The Marauders Mapped
by Fluff and Stuff
Summary: An account of the Marauders, Lily and Severus and their journey through their seven years at Hogwarts. Full of friendship, love, heartbreak, unfinished homework and a certain swear word Severus will never say. Eventual RLSB (Wolfstar) and JPLE (Jily). Remus-centric.
1. The Secret Boy

"The Dursleys had everything they wanted, but they also had a secret, and their greatest fear was that somebody would discover it."

\- _Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone_ , JK Rowling

* * *

Once, Remus and his father were reading a book called _Selvina's Seventy Secrets_. Once they'd finished, Remus had said he thought that most of the secrets, even the big ones, were pretty silly and that Selvina was a silly person. His father had laughed. Remus had snuggled up to his father, who looked down at his son's several scars. They were all pearl white and clear as day on Remus's soft skin.

"Dad, what's _your_ biggest secret?" asked Remus, almost asleep.

His father looked down at his son, broken but still so pure as he fell into the warm embrace of sleep. Remus didn't hear his father's answer.

" _You_."

* * *

Remus Lupin had thirty-one distinct scars all over his body at the age of eleven.

He knew because he counted them – and regularly. It was kind of awkward to count the ones on his back, but checking his pale, skinny frame in the mirror always worked. He always had gotten more after his transformations, and found that counting the injuries again and again was both calming and grounding. (He didn't count the scratches, because if he did it'd take him much longer.)

Sometimes he hated his scars; sometimes he liked them. Now, he stared at the slashes on his knuckle, faded with time. Oftentimes, they reminded him of what he was, a werewolf, a beast. But sometimes, they reminded him that the mere fact that they were all over his body and he was there to see it. He was still there to see the scars, despite his transformations. He had the scars and lived – not to tell the tale, perhaps, because if anybody ever got word of a lycanthrope near Muggles, there would be riots. He could be sent into a Happy Home, or into Care, both of which sent shudders down his spine. No, he did not live to tell others. But he _did_ live. And perhaps that was enough.

The scars glowed in the sunlight coming through the window, and Remus was content to stare and inspect his scarred knuckle – rather than listen to his father. Lyall Lupin sat across from Remus on their table, old papers and books scattered all over. This was another one of Remus's learning sessions, perhaps one of his 'classes' about the wizarding world that Remus would never see, taught by his father.

He didn't mind learning. In fact, learning was fun! But Remus knew that his father despised teaching. His father belonged in the wild woodlands searching for a Boggart, or in a wetland marsh investigating rogue poltergeists. Lyall was not a teacher – and both he and his son knew it.

But how else was Remus going to learn? What if one day he was thrust into the world, with no hope of survival because he had such little knowledge? Certainly Hope Lupin, his Muggle mother, couldn't teach Remus. So every Thursday they went into the kitchen, a too-eager student and an unwilling teacher, to learn about the fascinating wizarding world.

Unfortunately, most of the material Lyall used was things Remus had already read. It was boring for both of them, one of them teaching something they didn't care about while the other learned things they already knew about.

Remus looked across the table at his father, who was probably saying something that Remus wasn't listening to. Remus was Lyall's mirror image – they both had the same thick, golden brown hair, the same serious eyes, the same thin frames. Only, Lyall wasn't damaged by so many scars. (At least, on the surface.)

"Remus. _Remus_!" Lyall said, frowning. "Are you listening?"

Remus blinked and set his hand down on the table. "Yes, I am. Sorry."

Lyall sighed and looked down at the sheets. "Now I've forgotten what I was saying. Have we done–?"

" 'The Great Elven War of 1505?' " Remus guessed, reading the paper in front of Lyall upside down. "Yes, we have, dad."

Lyall bristled and shuffled the texts around, closing and opening the dusty volumes and squinting at the small writing. "What about–?"

"The differences between pixies and nixies? Yes, dad. We did that yesterday."

"And how about–?"

Remus took in a deep breath. "Yes. We've done all of those. And the ones we haven't done together I've already read."

Lyall stared at him for a few seconds and then Remus felt embarrassed. He shouldn't have said that. His father must already feel bad for not being too interested in Remus's studies. He didn't need Remus to rub it in.

"But we can just do it again," Remus said quickly, guilt flooding his body. "I love learning."

"Oh, Remus," said Lyall sadly. Remus raised an eyebrow, confused. Why was his father sad? Shouldn't he be annoyed that Remus snapped at him? "You deserve much more than what Mum and I can give you. I'm sorry."

Remus's bewilderment only deepened. He didn't know what to say.

"I only wish you had a better teacher," Lyall said, equally as sadly.

And as if a prayer had been answered, the front door knocked.

Remus let out a yelp and immediately clamped his hand over his mouth. Lyall's eyes immediately widened in alarm. The taste in Remus's mouth became stale and bitter and his heart began soaring in his chest.

Their house was so small that the front door opened into the kitchen. The front door that was now shaking from the knocking on the other side.

In an ordinary household, such a reaction would be unwarranted. But the Lupin's was no ordinary household, and in an instant, Lyall brought out the wand he rarely used and cast a Vanishing Charm on the papers and texts. They disappeared from the room as quickly as the tenseness had appeared.

"Go hide behind the sofa. _Now_ , Remus," Lyall hissed. "And be silent."

Remus jumped from his seat and stared in shock at the front door, once a comfort and a familiar sight but now foreboding and intimidating. He slid behind the worn, threadbare sofa and shivered.

He silently panicked. Who could it be? The nearest neighbours they had were Muggles and lived miles away. Before his parents had found this hidden place, there were often suspicious neighbours, and Remus was never allowed to play with the other children for fear of being found out. But a year ago, a particularly close incident had caused Lyall to decide to find a hidden home. His parents had picked such a remote cottage, away from society and tucked beneath woodland trees for fear of this very incident – _discovery_.

Because if somebody from the Ministry of Magic, or really anybody who lived in the wizarding community, discovered an unregulated werewolf, then Remus would be sent away from his parents, whom he knew loved him a lot.

"Who is it?" Remus whispered, but either his father didn't hear or chose to ignore him.

Remus heard the door open the slightest, the chain on the lock jangling. "Hello? Who are you?"

The answer was spoken by a man with a voice that was serene and intelligent. "Hello, I am Albus Dumbledore. I've come to talk about your son, Remus Lupin, and his lycanthropy."

Remus's breath hitched.

Lyall's voice was harsh. "I don't know anybody called that. Don't come again."

Then there was the sound of the door slamming loudly.

"There is no need to be rude, Mr Lyall Lupin," Albus Dumbledore called, his voice muffled through the wood of the door. "Or a poor liar, for that matter."

Remus crawled out from his hiding place, and stared at his father, who looked panicked.

" _Hope_!" Lyall bellowed at the stairs. "Come down here!"

Remus's mother came to the top of the stairs moments later, looking ruffled. "You _know_ how I don't like being called to you like some slave. I deserve to be treated with respect–"

"Come down here, _please_ ," Lyall said weakly.

"That's better," Hope said, smiling and walking down the stairs. "What do you need?"

"There's a _wizard_ at the front door," Lyall gasped.

Hope's smile vanished from her face. Though she was a Muggle, it did not mean she was uninformed. She knew completely about the consequences that the discovery of her son's lycanthropy would have.

"A good liar I can excuse," Dumbledore was still saying and Remus almost laughed. "A good liar can be treasured and recruited. But a bad liar? Nobody has use for a bad liar."

"I'll help barricade the door," Hope said, getting a chair. "But what about Remus…?"

Lyall looked straight at Remus. " _Hide_. And don't get out for anything."

Remus found it hard to stand straight but he managed anyway, tripping and running into the cramped hallway. Where could he hide? His house was small and unfurnished and had little hiding spots. Certainly sitting behind the sofa would not hide him for very long against Ministry officials. Maybe the living room's bookshelf would provide a proper space–

As Remus debated possible hiding, he heard sounds from the kitchen, including bangs, screams, yells, and Dumbledore talking over all of this in that calm, intelligent tone of his.

Remus smelt smoke and felt heat but didn't look back as he slid into the living room. There he could hide in the bookshelf–

And on the floor of his living room sat a funny looking man in a purple robe and a hat. The half-moon spectacles on his crooked nose glinted. His beard was white and was so long it touched the floor. He was thoughtfully chewing on some candy and when he saw Remus looking oddly at him, the man smiled and held out some twitching balls, some of them even making sounds.

"Care for a game of Gobstones?" Albus Dumbledore asked.

"I don't have a Gobstones set," Remus said, which was code for _I can't afford one_.

Dumbledore winked. "Well, I do. Want to play?" He offered the special, wriggling stones in his hands, each one like a small little marble.

Remus shrugged. "I've never played."

"I can teach you," Dumbledore offered, his eyes twinkling with excitement, as if he were genuinely enthused at the possibility to _teach_.

 _I can teach you_.

That was something Lyall had probably said before. But definitely not with the same amount of casualness and kindness and enthusiasm as Dumbledore's words had been said with. Remus knew – somehow – that this man was a teacher. A real, qualified teacher that enjoyed teaching. Perhaps Remus could be one of those too one day.

Remus screwed up his face in thought.

"Okay, then," Remus said, suddenly smiling, and he sat down cross-legged in front of Dumbledore.

And so they played Gobstones. Remus was awful at it, and he was sure Dumbledore was playing politely easily, missing just as many shots as Remus did. Whenever Remus lost a point, the magical marble would shoot a putrid liquid at him. Every time, Dumbledore would stifle a laugh and then with a wave of his wand cleared the greenish pus. After what could have been five minutes or five hours – time didn't exist when you were having fun – Remus realised what was happening. He was enjoying himself, having _fun_.

"I'm having a lot of fun playing Gobstones," Remus blurted while they began another round. _This is an unfamiliar feeling._ "Do you play Gobstones a lot?"

Dumbledore smiled. "I'm afraid I don't have too much time."

Remus frowned, getting a marble ready. "Then why are you–"

In the middle of Remus preparing for the shot, his parents ran into the living room, panting and wild-eyed, making him miss the shot and causing the Gobstone to spray liquid into his eye.

Remus wiped away the liquid and stared at his parents, who both looked unfamiliar. Hope was hysterical and panicky, while Lyall was enraged, fury filling his red face.

" _Remus_!" Hope shrieked.

"Get away from my son!" Lyall demanded, glaring at Dumbledore.

"Dad," Remus said before he could think. "H-He hasn't talked about any werewolf stuff yet. We've been playing Gobstones this whole time."

Lyall's glower remained unchanged.

"Yes, but all this time I've been waiting for you," Dumbledore said, suddenly businesslike. He stood up, hands folded. "It's time I talk to you two, about Remus's education."

"I've been home-schooling him," Lyall said immediately. "We don't have much, but we have a lot of books."

"Ah, but are you two happy with it?" Dumbledore asked, eyebrows raised.

Lyall and Remus exchanged a look. The answer, obviously, was _no_.

"Then that is settled. I can now offer you an invitation for Remus to attend Hogwarts, which you may know I am the headmaster of," said Dumbledore serenely.

All three Lupins were flabbergasted. Remus frowned, confused. Surely he couldn't go to the most legendary school in Europe. He was a _werewolf_. He was a burden. He wasn't fit to be around other people, let alone children.

Hope looked shocked. "What? H-Hogwarts?" She whipped around to her husband. "Isn't that the–?"

Lyall looked at his wife and nodded. His gaze switched over to Dumbledore. "You've got to be joking," Lyall said, his tone suggesting that he did not find the joke funny at all. "You know of Remus's lycanthropy, you said five minutes ago. How could you offer him an invitation knowing that he's – that he's a–" Lyall spluttered, searching for words.

"An ordinary, growing young boy who deserves a proper education just like every other child?" Dumbledore questioned. Remus was astonished at his untroubled tone. From what his father had told Remus, werewolves were never treated as ordinary.

Lyall frowned. "You _know_ he's not ordinary–"

"He has an illness." Dumbledore seemed resolute. "That is all that sets him apart from any other child. That should not stop him from receiving an education."

Lyall shook with rage. "It is not a _normal_ illness. He could not only injure himself, but other people."

"I am aware of what your son's illness entails," said Dumbledore shortly. "Safety precautions will of course be put in check."

Remus's father was spluttering. "There are children in that castle of yours, Dumbledore. You cannot let a possible predator around young, defenceless children."

"I am aware of that. But Remus has proven himself to be kind and intelligent, and most definitely not the beast society views him as," Dumbledore said. "Remus will be safe, and so will everybody else." His serious expression softened. "Hogwarts is not just a school. It is a _home_. You, of all people, should know this, Lyall Lupin. You attended it."

And for the first time during the whole conversation, Lyall's face began to soften too.

Then began a long conversation between his father and Dumbledore, in which his mother gave helpful suggestions. Remus zoned out of it, only catching glimpses of words like "disease," "precautions" and "controlled environment." Despite this opportunity, his heart panged.

Remus had been treated his whole life like a liability. Not always on purpose, but in the involuntary sighs when Remus needed more bandages, or the grunts when Remus asked for more paper to study on. Even though he'd been treated like that his whole life – it still hurt. He didn't want to be a burden, or a trouble.

He wanted to be invisible.

He didn't want to be a werewolf.

No, he wanted to be a ghost.

* * *

A week later after the visit from Albus Dumbledore, a letter arrived at the Lupin's doorstep, officially inviting Remus Lupin to Hogwarts. He would take the Hogwarts Express on September the 1st, and arrive at Hogwarts, with special holidays throughout the year. He was given a set of things he needed to buy from a place named Diagon Alley. His mother and father lost their hunches, the shadows under their eyes, the perpetual frowns. They were proud and exuberant for their son to be given the chance to attend the most legendary school in the world.

Yes, Remus was excited too. He would go to Hogwarts as a student, determined to learn and experience this window of opportunity to the fullest.

But he would not go as someone looking for friends. He would not go as a smiler, as someone in love with the idea of being in love. He would not go for anybody but himself, and his parents. He would be as quiet and solitary as possible.

He would be invisible.

He would be a ghost.


	2. Sort-of Friends

"There were shops selling robes, shops selling telescopes and strange silver instruments Harry had never seen before, windows stacked with barrels of bat spleens and eels' eyes, tottering piles of spell books, quills, and rolls of parchment, potion bottles, globes of the moon."

 _\- Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, J.K. Rowling_

* * *

It was raining when James Potter spotted the love of his life. (Well, _loves_ of his life – he had spotted the amazing Nimbus 1001, released very recently, and he was ashamed to say he almost wet his pants.) Diagon Alley was full to the brim of bustling, chatting people despite the wet weather, though some people were under umbrellas while others cast Impervius Charms around themselves. James found it very annoying when his glasses got splattered with rain and discovered it was hard to see.

"Stupid rain," James muttered, stumbling into Flourish and Blotts. He accidentally ran into someone in his haste to get out of the rain.

"Oi! Watch where you're going," he said indignantly.

" _Oh_! Sorry! I'm so sorry!" James heard a voice say.

A short, fat boy was stammering squeaky apologies to James so much that James felt uncomfortable and pitiful.

"It's all right," James said quietly. "Just watch where you're going next time."

"I-I'm Peter Pettigrew," the boy said nervously. Peter had mousy-brown hair, and had a pointed nose. However, he did have a friendly face and looked nice enough.

"I'm James Potter," he said warmly and genuinely this time. "Are you buying your books for the school year here? You in first year too?"

"Yeah, I am!" Peter said. "Are you in here to buy all your books too? I could help you."

James shook his head. "Nah, my mum and dad already bought them for me. I just came in here to get out of the rain."

"Excuse me," a girl's voice said. "You're blocking the way."

James turned around and said in a very accurate impression of her voice, "Excuse me. You're blocking my view, your head is so big."

The girl who had spoken was sweet-faced, had a bright red hair and luminous green eyes. James would have gotten lost in them, if not for the furious expression on her face. A blond boy, who looked reserved and timid, was dressed in shabby clothing and was carrying a heap of books in his arms. Even with the load, he did manage to touch Lily's forearm.

"Lily, calm down," he said.

"Ooh, is that your boyfriend?" said James, who couldn't help himself.

Lily looked at him disdainfully. "As a matter of fact, I've just met Remus half an hour ago, and I think he's very intelligent and nice, but he's just my friend. Not that you would know what friends are."

She just said all of this very fast and very succinctly and James was stunned.

"I'm his friend!" Peter said immediately and James felt a rush of affection for the boy.

"Yeah, he is," James said in what he hoped was a clever voice.

Lily shot him a disgusted look. "Whatever, let's go, Remus."

The pair of them left. James started complaining about how horribly lovey-dovey the two of them were, and how scruffy Remus's clothing was (even though he felt bad about badmouthing the boy; he was probably poor) and particularly appalling that Lily girl was. Peter chimed in ever so often with, "Yeah," and "Right!"

James could tell it was the start of a lifelong friendship.

* * *

"That horrible boy with the glasses," Lily said for the sixteenth time (Remus was counting). "I thoroughly dislike him. I really hope he isn't in our year."

Remus was sort of amused. Lily was not really talking to him – she was rather ranting to herself. Remus did not mind at all; Lily had been very nice to him for the short duration they had spent together ever since they met up in the bookstore.

"I heard him talking to Peter Pettigrew," he said slowly, "and they said they were in first year too."

Lily made a revolted noise. "The Potter boy was so annoying. I really do hope he isn't in our year. Oh, your fire-cream is dripping."

Their parents were both at the Leaky Cauldron, and had trusted them to go shopping together safely. Remus's dad was very sick at home, so his mother had very hesitantly come with Remus to shop at Diagon Alley. Remus had spotted Lily, who looked excited, and her parents, who looked just as nervous as his mother, in the Leaky Cauldron. Hope had realised Lily's parents were Muggles and had rushed over them to gush on about relatable Muggle things. Secretly, Remus knew that his mother had been calmed – of all things – by the Beatles T-Shirt Mr Evans had been wearing, the one sense of normalcy in this place of bizarreness and bewilderment. Remus was happy to let Hope talk with the Evans's while he shopped with their daughter. His poor mother had been distraught for the last few months.

The first bit of the trip had been quite awkward, walking with some stranger girl under an umbrella, but while they were walking around Diagon Alley, they witnessed the owner of the Magical Menagerie chase a winged, fat cat zoom around in the rain. The two laughed together and suddenly they were talking about everything they had learned about magical creatures.

"Oh, Severus told me _all_ about Kneazles, they're so interesting–"

"Who's Severus?"

"Oh," said Lily. "He's my best friend. He couldn't come with me to Diagon Alley today," she said sadly. "I really wanted him to come."

The talk about friends jarred Remus back to reality. He remembered what his father had firmly told him: "Don't get too close to anyone. Don't make too many friends. If you do, they could discover your … secret."

"Uh, yeah, okay," Remus said suddenly and he looked away, hoping she would stop talking.

After going to the bookstore and that altercation, Lily had jabbered on all day about the Potter boy. Remus did not mind – he just hoped she did not think they were getting closer or friendlier.

After visiting the potion ingredients shop – "What in the _world_ is that _thing_?" "Remus, it's a flower!" "Oh, I'd love to visit the place where they grow flowers like _those_ …" – the uniform store, where Remus remarked on how small Lily was when the employee measured her – "Wow you're even shorter than your temper!" "Oh, I'll show you my temper, Lupin…" – the pet store – "Ooh, look at that cute little dog, Remus!" "That looks less like a dog and more like a bat," "Well, I'm buying it," – the cauldrons shop – "Look at that, it's golden!" "The letter says pewter," "Yeah, well it also says only owls, rats and toads, and, oh, what do you have? Bat and rat start with different letters, Evans," "…Jump off a bridge," – they made their way to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour for something Lily called a fire-cream.

It sounded ridiculous to Remus and he made this quite clear – "That sounds kind of … dangerous," – and Lily had argued back – "Oh, come on, _please_ , Remus! It's a cold day and it's raining," – and finally Remus had let in – "If I get my tongue burnt off or they are disgusting, I'm blaming you!"

The fire-creams had been incredibly hot in Remus's mouth and he found it hard to swallow down, but overall they tasted very nice – even if he did cough out smoke after eating it.

"What was that about disgusting?" Lily said mock-innocently.

Remus replied darkly, "Well it almost _did_ burn off my tongue…"

The day ended with an amusing – at least to Remus – quarrel between Lily and James Potter about who was first in line in the queue in Rosa Lee Teabags. James Potter ended up with a bleeding nose and Lily with a bruised fist.

"Oh, I found out his face is just as hard as his head…" Lily muttered angrily, and Remus bit his lip to refrain from laughing.

At the end of the trip, the two big farewell to each other, with promises they would catch up at Hogwarts in a few week's time.

"Bye, Remus!" Lily called.

Remus grinned despite himself, and thought he had, for once found someone who was his friend. "Bye, Lily."

* * *

How Remus Lupin forgot to buy his _wand_ of all things, he had no idea.

"Oh, I'm so stupid," Remus muttered to himself and then went to his mum to ask her if she could bring him to Diagon Alley in London again.

His mum, once again, waited in the Leaky Cauldron. "I don't like the outdoors," Hope, who loved walking outside often and had even met Remus's father because she had taken a walk, reassured Remus and he was once again sent alone into the little village.

Ollivanders was a quiet, shabby shop with peeling gold letters on the front. It looked very lonely and empty and dusty from the outside, and Remus warily made his way in. It looked just as deserted inside, and the ceilings were piled up to the top with narrow boxes presumably full of wands. Remus stepped in slowly and saw the silent shop was unilluminated and unkempt.

"Hey," a voice said from the shadows and startled Remus so much that he jumped back and hit a small, spindly chair in the corner.

"Oh, I'm so sorry I scared you," the person said again and a boy with dark, long hair stepped out of the dark and helped Remus up. The boy laughed and assisted Remus in dusting off his clothes before saying, "I'm Sirius Black."

Remus had heard all about the Blacks and their pure-blood supremacy. He had never heard of their opinions of werewolves, but he was sure it wasn't a very nice one.

"I'm Remus Lupin," Remus said slowly and could not help but notice the closeness of the other boy. Why was he so near Remus? Remus would very much have liked to ask him to make some space.

"Oh," Sirius said, apparently seeing how uncomfortable Remus was. "I – oh, I'm sorry."

Remus bit his lip from laughing now. Sirius was so awkward, like he had never met anyone else his age before and did not know how to act normally. Remus could relate.

"You don't need to be sorry," Remus said, smiling. "I'm just not used to people being so close to me. My parents aren't really the affectionate type."

Sirius began to smile too. "Me too, my parents always seem determined to act as if they don't love me. It's my brother who I'm really close to, though. We always play fight and hug and stuff. Do you have any siblings?"

"No, I'm kind of lonely at home," Remus said before he could think. "I don't have many friends either."

"Oh, I'll be your friend then."

Remus hid a grin behind his palm. This boy was incredibly strange, but also unbelievably kind. "Are you here to buy your wand for school?"

"Yeah, the shop owner was just going to look for possible wand for me."

"So you're in first year?"

"Yep," Sirius said, casually leaning on a stack of boxes while looking very intently at Remus.

Remus said, "Oh, same! D'you know what house you want to be in? My dad was in Ravenclaw when he went to school."

Sirius's expression darkened. "My whole family's been in Slytherin."

"Oh," said Remus. Slytherin had a reputation of fostering dark wizards. "Do you want to be in Slytherin?"

"Nah," said Sirius. "But my mum and dad want me to. Like really wants me to. My mum might even disown me if I don't throttle the Sorting Hat into sorting me into Slytherin."

"Well," Remus said slowly, "I think you should just do what you want. If you want to please your parents then you do what they want. But it all really comes down to our personality, right?"

"I guess…"

"Hello there, children," a thin, silvery man with a load of boxes in his arms, presumably Mr Ollivander, said from the shadows and once again Remus jumped violently and Sirius caught him. Mr Ollivander waved his own wand and a table materialised from thin air. He tossed the boxes on there.

"Well, Mr Black, I've brought a bunch of wands that I think might suit you. Perhaps you, sir," he said, talking to Remus, "can try these out too?"

The two boys approached the table and at random picked up a wand and swished it around, before Mr Ollivander snatched it out of their hands, muttering, "No, no, completely incompatible."

Sirius found a wand that suited him much quicker. He managed to wave his wand and do something that left Remus breathless. Mr Ollivander examined it with bright eyes. "Yes, 10 and a half inches, cypress, dragon heartstring, just like a long line of Blacks, a wand with a little bit of rigidity … but quite rebellious too. It may be a little hard to control. Interesting."

Remus found a wand that looked a little similar to Sirius's and found that he managed to set the table alight. After Sirius had snorted and Remus had elbowed him, Mr Ollivander had put out the flame, looking quite amused.

"Well," the wandmaker said, scrutinising Remus's wand, "this is also 10 and a half inches, cypress too, like your friend there! Unicorn hair … quite pliable … an obedient wand, but with a little bit of a wild side. Quite like Mr Black's wand there. If you two did magic together, I am sure it would work well."

"You hear that, Remus? We could do some good magic together…" Sirius said, smirking, and Remus pushed him away, laughing.

"Seven Galleons then," Mr Ollivander said, and Remus's heart sank. He didn't have seven Galleons – he didn't even have one. He had only brought Sickles.

"Oh … I don't …" His poverty was quite a sore point for him.

Sirius, seeing Remus's predicament, said, "Oh, don't worry, I'll pay for it."

Feeling a rush of fondness as they walked out of the shop, Remus said, "You didn't have to do that. At all."

"Yeah, I did," Sirius said nonchalantly, though there he was beaming. "I said I'd be your friend, didn't I?"

They strolled to get out of the rain, into Scribbulus Writing Equipment, and they talked some more. Remus had only needed to buy his wand, but he wanted to go shopping with Sirius. Remus was fascinated by how normal Sirius was. Sirius laughed at the silliest of things, and was quite clumsy, getting ink all over the two of them. When he was embarrassed, his ears went pink, and he often needed to push his hair out of his eyes. He looked very annoyed when somebody giggled at the shabbiness of Remus's robes. Sirius blinked a lot when talking, and he scratched his chest. He grinned at everything Remus said. He had very nice hands. He played with his clothing a lot. His hair was actually quite fluffy and Remus barely refrained from patting it because it felt so funny.

After Sirius had bought all of his things, Remus suggested they buy a fire-cream – "They're really nice, though my tongue nearly did get burnt off," – but to his massive disappointment Sirius declined.

"I'm – _really_ – sorry, Rem." (Remus secretly despised that nickname, though he wouldn't tell Sirius that.) "But, um, I've stayed with you a little too long. You know how my mum gets."

Remus loved that Sirius treated him like they'd known each other for ages, and that Remus had already met his mother.

"Oh…" Remus said, a little let down. "Oh, well."

"Tell you what," Sirius said conspiratorially, and leaned in to whisper to Remus. Sirius smelled like honey and dark chocolate. "I'll have a fire-cream anytime you want at school. I'll have whatever you want with me at Hogsmeade."

"Sirius, we're not in third year yet, we can't go to Hogsmeade," Remus said.

"We can sneak in," Sirius said, suggestively wiggling his eyebrows.

Remus laughed and pushed him away. "Fine. I'll see you there."

"Bye, Remus!"

Remus grinned as he walked back to the Leaky Cauldron as Sirius walked in the other direction. For the time being, he forgot what his father said about not getting too close to anyone. "Bye, Sirius!"


	3. Gryffindors

"Now slip me snug about your ears,  
I've never yet been wrong,  
I'll have a look inside your mind  
And tell where you belong!"

 _\- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J.K. Rowling_

* * *

Platform 9 ¾ was packed with people, parents tearfully saying goodbye to their children and students chatting amiably with their friends about their holidays. Remus was about to board the train – it was ten fifty-five already – but was held back by his still-sick father.

Lyall sniffled, "Remus – could I talk to you for a minute before you go?"

"Oh, sure," he said and then the bustled out of the crowd where it was quieter.

"Remus," Lyall said seriously. "When you told me about your new friends, I was alarmed. I've told you this already but I'll say it, _don't make close friends_. They could try and follow you, and get hurt." (The thought of hurting Lily, Sirius or even James sent him spiralling back to reality. He couldn't possibly getting close to them, now hearing what could happen.) "They could very well find out about You-Know-What, and you _know_ how they would react."

Ten fifty-seven now, Remus noted, looking at the large clock on the wall.

"Not only would you be shunned but also you would not be able to attend school! Surely even Albus Dumbledore cannot argue against a hundred angry parents calling for your expulsion. So please don't make any close attachments with any people, Remus. Every month, say you are visiting your sick mother to anybody who asks."

Ten fifty-nine. The train made a loud noise, and steam began to billow.

"Do you understand?" Lyall shouted as Remus shouldered his way through the crowd to get onto the Hogwarts Express.

"Yes! Bye, Dad, I love you!" Remus yelled back and darted inside the train. He had barely set foot inside before the train began to move and suddenly it was off.

Stumbling inside, he looked for an empty compartment for him to read his book, but sadly there was none. In his head, he was determined to follow his father's ideas, and would not speak or get friendlier with Lily or Sirius anymore, even though they were both intelligent, very kind and Remus would love to be their friends.

To his utter dismay, in a compartment that he checked, there was Lily Evans, and another, black-haired, gloomy-faced boy.

"Oh, hi Remus!" she said loudly and ushered him over, and he was forced to sit down with her. "This is Severus," she said gesturing to the glum boy, "and this is Remus!" she said, gesturing to him. "Remus was really nice," she told Severus, "and I went shopping with him. Oh and I forgot, but I also met that nasty _Potter_ boy at Diagon Alley, I just remembered."

"Speak of the devil," Severus said spitefully and sure enough, Remus saw James Potter standing in the doorway of the compartment. Two other boys were behind him, though Remus could not see him.

"Hello, Silly Lily and _Snivellus_ ," James said, smirking.

Somebody laughed sycophantically, and saw it was Peter Pettigrew, the same boy from Flourish and Blotts.

"Very funny," Lily said savagely. "Leave us alone! What have we done to you?"

"Well, it's funny when you get angry," James reasoned. "And you also haven't apologised for punching my nose at Diagon Alley."

Lily said, "Only when you've apologised for being an absolute prat."

James chuckled and then proceeded to sit down in the compartment, along with Peter and an another boy. Remus's heart sank as he continued to focus on his book – why were there so many people?

James's hazel eyes landed on Remus. "Oh, who's this? Another one of your boyfriends? Term hasn't even started and you have two!"

Lily made a disparaging noise. "You've met him! It's Remus, and you've already made that joke before. Remus is my friend."

Please don't say that, Remus thought.

"Remus?" a voice wondered aloud and to Remus's sheer horror was Sirius Black. No, no, why were the two people who possibly thought he was his friend here? His plan was slowly dissolving around him.

Remus blushed and looked away. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Sirius wear a hurt expression.

"You know him?" Lily said. Remus almost moaned. The topic was still focused on him. He very much would have liked to jump off the train.

Sirius answered indignantly. "Yeah, I do! How do you know him?"

"I went shopping with him," Lily said.

"I did too!"

James laughed. "Remus is cheating on you both!"

Stop talking about me, Remus thought wildly. Please.

Lily clucked disapprovingly. "Oh ha ha, I'm not dating him. In any case, Remus likes Severus and me better."

Remus began praying in his head for the universe to swallow him up. Or rain fire down at him. Or crash the train.

"Hah! How could he like you better?"

"When compared with you, Black, I can see why."

James rolled his eyes. "Just ask the little kid himself."

All eyes were on him. Remus stammered, "Oh – I don't – I'm not even – Why do I even have to choose? I'm not really your friends."

Both Lily and Sirius gave him upset looks.

"Well that settles it," James said loudly. "He prefers _me_ , like everyone in the world."

"Not me!" Lily said. "Oh, come on, Severus, let's go find _another_ compartment, and hope that little cockroach doesn't follow us. You can come Remus, if you prefer peace and quiet."

He really didn't think Lily was quiet at all, but she seemed much nicer than rowdy James so he left the compartment, his nose buried in his book, trying to ignore Sirius trying to catch his eye.

"He think he's too good for us," Remus heard James say as he left.

"He said … he said we were friends …" Sirius muttered.

"Whatever. We're your _real_ friends."

And for the rest of the train journey, Remus read peacefully while listening to Lily and Severus talk quietly next to him. When the Hogwarts Express stopped off at Hogsmeade Station and all of the students boarded off, they were met with a huge man named Rubeus Hagrid, calling, "Firs' years, firs' years, over 'ere!"

Slipping and stumbling, they followed Hagrid down a steep, narrow pathway. Night was falling, and it was quite dark. There was a loud gasp from the first-years – the pathway opened up to a view of a high mountain, with a vast, sparkling castle with towers and turrets rising up into the night sky.

Hagrid pulled all the first-years to the shore, where a fleet of many small boats, where they were allowed up to four people. The large man had one to himself. Sirius, James and Peter boarded one and tried to bring Remus onto theirs, but Remus chose to sit with Lily and Severus instead. When Hagrid called, the magical boats set off across the Black Lake.

Remus was fascinated by the view; Hogwarts castle and its spires touching the starry sky towered above them. James and Lily, of course, bickered all the way to the castle. Remus kept glancing at Sirius, who had become paler and Remus guessed it was because of the imminent Sorting. Peter also looking quite nervous, but Severus, Remus saw, was quite brooding.

"What house do you want to be in?" asked Remus.

"Slytherin," Severus said immediately. "My mum was in it. How about you?"

"Maybe Ravenclaw. The other houses don't sound that bad at all, though."

They all ducked their heads when approaching the cliff and the tiny boats slid through curtains of ivy. They were carried along a dark tunnel, which seemed to be going underneath the castle, until they reached a harbour. The first-years clambered out of the boats to wet rocks and pebbles. The little children followed after Hagrid's big, lumbering shape and his luminescent lamp right up a passageway and into damp grass. A flight of stone stairs awaited them and when they stopped at a big, oak door.

Hagrid raised his gigantic fist and knocked thrice.

The door swung open and a tall, prim, middle-aged lady in green robes stood there. She looked quite stern and Remus did not want to see her angry.

"The firs'-years, Professor McGonagall."

Professor McGonagall nodded her head and smiled. "Thank you, Rubeus. I shall take them from here."

And they began following the lady, through an enormous Entrance Hall. A marble staircase spiralled up next to floating, flaming torches.

"The place is so big!" Remus heard James say. "You could get lost in here."

"Nobody has yet made a map of the school," Professor McGonagall said. "The day someone will is the day I stop doing magic."

They were lead into a small antechamber off the hall, and they crowded near each other.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," Professor McGonagall said. "The start-of-term feast shall begin shortly, but not before you have been sorted into your houses. This is quite important, as your house will be your family here. You will be rewarded with house points and punished with the removal of them, or detentions. The house with the most points at the end of the year receives the House Cup.

"The four Hogwarts houses are Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. Each house has produced famous witches and wizards and we expect no less from all of you. All of the houses value different qualities in a person. The Sorting Hat, will decide which House your personality suits best and which house you may flourish best in.

"The Sorting Ceremony will begin in a few short minutes in front of the rest of the school. I shall return when we are ready. Please wait quietly," she said and then left.

The first-years whispered loudly to each other about the sorting.

"Oh, my whole family's been in Slytherin, it's definitely the best house," one boy said.

"Nah, Ravenclaw is! How else are you meant to pass all the classes if you're dumb as a doormat?"

James Potter was loudly boasting to Lily Evans about how his whole family had been in Gryffindor and that it was the best house. Severus sneered but said nothing; James took Severus's sneer as disrespectful and drew out his wand. Lily began going on a whole tirade about wand safety and not being a prat, while Peter was busy defending James.

Sirius, however, was by himself in the corner, looking like he was about to be sick. Remus, forgetting all about not being friendly, approached Sirius.

"You know, it's just putting on a hat," Remus said softly. "It'll be over real quick."

Sirius shrugged. "I know, but …"

"You don't want to be sorted into Slytherin?"

Sirius shook his head.

"Well then …" Remus said thoughtfully. "I read a book once–"

"Wow, you? Read a book? I'm shell-shocked."

"Oh, you're hilarious, you should be a comedian," Remus said. "But honestly, I've read a book where it says that the Sorting Hat takes your opinion into account as well."

"Huh?"

Remus smiled and lightly nudged Sirius. "That means, it cares what you have to think about it too. If you don't want to be sorted into Slytherin … it won't make you."

Sirius stared into Remus's eyes. "Huh. Okay."

"Yeah…" Remus said, staring back. Sirius's eyes were just the same colour as the stars, if you looked kind of closer.

His reverie was broken by Professor McGonagall returning, saying, "Move along now! Follow me. Form a line. Look smart."

Remus got into line behind Sirius and behind Severus. In front of Sirius, was James and Lily, still arguing, and then Peter, who looked terrified. To Remus's surprise, Sirius grasped Remus's hand and squeezed it tight, before letting go.

The Great Hall was a spectacular place. Thousands upon thousands of candles hovered mid-air above four, long tables, where hundreds of students were sitting and talking. Glittering, unfilled plates were lined up on the tables. At the top of the Hall was another table where the staff sat. Professor McGonagall led them up onto the stage so they were facing the rest of the school with the teachers' table to their back. Ghosts shimmered in the candlelight.

A frayed and dirty hat sat upon a stool in the centre. That must be the Sorting Hat. It began to twitch and then suddenly the brim ripped open and it burst into beautiful song.

While it sang, Remus heard Sirius whisper to him, "I hope we're in the same house."

Me too, Remus thought.

Sirius gripped Remus's hand, and this time he didn't let go.

When the hat finished its song, the Hall burst into applause. Professor McGonagall then stepped forward holding long roll of parchment. The Hall fell silent. "When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted. When you have been sorted, you will then sit at the table of your new house.

"Abbey, Paige!"

A small girl walked out from the line and sat on the hat, which was so big that it fell on her eyes. A pause for a moment and then, the hat yelled, "HUFFLEPUFF!"

The Hufflepuff table cheered loudly as the little girl went to sit there.

"Ackley, Grant!"

The hat yelled, "RAVENCLAW!"

The table second the left clapped happily as he went to sit down.

"Bilgewater, Blair!"

"SLYTHERIN!"

The Slytherin table whooped.

"Black, Sirius!"

There was a hush as Sirius Black discreetly let his hand go and rise up to the stool. He put the big hat on his head and there was a minute of deliberation. Silence filled the Hall and then, "GRYFFINDOR!"

An astonished applause came from the Gryffindor table as Sirius stumbled from the stage to his new home. Remus smiled – Sirius had done what he had wanted to, rather than what his parents had wanted him to.

A few more names were called out before "Evans, Lily!" was yelled.

The redheaded girl smiled, so different from all the anxious others, and went to put the hat on her head, and waited. Then: "GRYFFINDOR!"

He thought he heard James and Severus both groan simultaneously.

There were more names and then Professor McGonagall said, "Lupin, Remus!"

Remus stumbled clumsily up to the stool, and then placed the hat on his head. He waited.

Suddenly, a small voice said in his ear, "Hmm. Interesting. Very intelligent a thirst for knowledge. Quite ambitious too. Very courageous, lots of potential. Loyal, hard-working – well, I never! A werewolf! Hmm … where should I put you?"

Remus thought intensely, "Put me where I would be happiest."

"Happiest, you say? Well, I know where that would be. You would be very bored in a place like Hufflepuff, friendless in Slytherin and your secret would be found out very quickly in Ravenclaw. So – better be GRYFFINDOR!"

The hat yelled out the last word to the whole Hall. Remus walked shakily to the table and took his seat next to Sirius, who was patting him on the back and grinning. Lily was talking animatedly to Remus – and was shooting Sirius disdainful looks, while Sirius returned that look with a sneer.

"Peter, Pettigrew!" was a Hatstall, a term for one whose sorting took longer than five minutes, and eventually became a "GRYFFINDOR!" and then, much to Lily's utter dismay, so did "Potter, James."

"Snape, Severus!" became a Slytherin and the sorting finished with "Zabini, Danielle."

The feast was amazing, the best Remus had ever eaten in his life. Remus snorted when James had to go wash his face in the restroom due to parsnips thrown at his face – "He deserved it," Lily argued – laughed when Peter accidentally ate a plate – "It looked like sugar," Peter moaned to a laughing group of people – and swatted Sirius away when he tried to offer him a humbug – "Come on, they're really nice!" "Yeah, if your mouth is numb." At the end of the feast, Albus Dumbledore gave a very short speech and he led a chorus of the Hogwarts school song.

"Now off to bed!" he announced.

The Gryffindor prefects led the first-years to the Gryffindor common room down a very long corridor. A portrait of a very fat lady hung there.

"Password?" she asked.

"Gibberish," a prefect said and the portrait swung open like a door to the common room. The rest of the night was a blur, the prefects pointing them to their dormitories and telling them that all their stuff was already in their rooms. Tired, Remus slumped in a four-poster bed next to Sirius's and his eyelids began drooping.

Before he fell asleep, Sirius whispered, "You're a really good friend, Remus," and Remus almost sobbed, for that was the one thing he had been told to stop from happening.


	4. The Missing Quill

"I think I'll just go down and have some pudding and wait for it all to turn up - it always does in the end."

 _\- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, J.K. Rowling_

* * *

Remus was perhaps the only person in the class remotely interested in the things Professor Tacey had to write. Defence Against the Dark Arts – taught by an old lady named Professor Enid Tacey who did not speak at all but rather waved her wand a bit far away from the enormous board and shaky handwriting appeared.

Nevertheless, Remus was fascinated by the things she had to write. Remus copied down everything she wrote. Next to him, Lily did the same.

It was the middle of October now – weeks had passed since they had been sorted. Remus decided he liked Charms and Defence the best. Lily, along with her friend Severus, adored Potions and the Potions Master Slughorn. James was excellent at Transfiguration, though he was haughty and rude about it. Sirius's most-attended class was probably detention. Peter's was lunch.

His first transformation at school was very shortly after the sorting, and the procedure was quick and crude. Madam Pomfrey had ushered him to the newly-grown Whomping Willow, which she calmed down with her wand. They had crawled underneath, and walked to the Shrieking Shack, and the rest had been a blank to him. The next morning, he found cuts and gashes all over himself and Madam Pomfrey had fixed them all.

The next was worst – he had to stay in the Hospital Wing for a few more days, and he was sure to wear his robes over his clothes for the new few days though he was quite hot.

Another thing Remus had done was resolutely ignore Sirius – ever since the first of September, he had deftly avoided Sirius, and it seemed the other boy was doing the same. Remus sneaked a look back at Sirius, who was staring back at him, and embarrassed, turned back quickly to read Professor Tacey's penmanship.

From what he guessed, she had once been a Dark creature catcher or at least studied these creatures thoroughly. She was a new teacher – Remus knew this because Albus Dumbledore had introduced her to the school at the start-of-term feast. She must have been an expert before, for she had lots of things to say about monsters and their powers, such as Hags and the type of magic they possessed. For one, she said they were quite similar to wizards, though they had poor magical skills and required a lot on potions to get magical tasks done. She wrote on how to spot different types of Hags by the number of warts they have.

"Oh, where did my parchment go?" Lily wondered aloud, searching for it around her. A collective snigger jarred Remus from copying his notes down, and he whipped around to see Peter and Sirius laughing quietly. Where was James?

Remus too, found something of his missing. He could not find his favourite quill, though he was sure he had had it just a second ago. He wildly fished about. Oh, this couldn't be happening, that quill was the special one from his father–

In his haste, he knocked over his ink bottle, and the black spilled over his robes and rolled onto the floor, shattering.

Flustered, he began ferretting about, aware of roaring laughter from the whole class, especially from the back of the room – and a bark of laughter from someone he swore was James, though of course Remus had heard wrong, because James wasn't in the class right now – where he was determined not to look at. Professor Tacey cleared the broken glass, and Lily siphoned the ink off him quickly, though it didn't stop him from going very red in the face.

After everything had calmed down, the Professor continued inscribing onto the board.

A snicker from the back echoed throughout the classroom. Professor Tacey stopped writing to send an enquiring look at the back, where, to Remus's utter irritation, was Sirius and Peter laughing at something that Remus couldn't see. Remus noticed that the seat beside Sirius was empty, James's seat. Lily sent Remus an angry, questioning look, as if Remus would know where James was.

James was probably causing even more trouble elsewhere, or arguing with Severus, as the two had taken a fierce hatred to each other, even more potent than the one between James and Lily. Remus turned back.

"Oh, sorry, Professor," James said loudly, and to Remus's utter amazement, James was sitting in his seat, looking as if he had always been there in the first place. "We were just laughing at the look on Lupin's and Evans's face."

* * *

Remus's quill – not his dad's favourite one, which he had lost – scratched against his parchment resolutely and what he hoped to be louder than James Potter's attempts to get his attention.

"Psst, Remus," James hissed, leaning to the side where Remus was. Lily, on Remus's other side, jerked awake from James's voice and sent him a glare.

They were in History of Magic, easily the least interesting class they had. Even Remus agreed. However, he was determined to do well in all lessons, and he usually ignored James and Peter's playful antics during class – and Sirius's sad looks at Remus when the latter ignored the former. Lily seemed of the same resolve – but even she got sleepy while Professor Binns spoke in his monotone voice.

Nothing, however, stopped her from bickering with James Potter.

"Be quiet, Potter, and do your work," Lily said, sounding very much like Professor McGonagall.

"I saw you sleeping, don't pretend you weren't," said James, before turning back to Remus. "Anyways, Lupin, I wanted to talk to you about something important…"

Remus pushed his face away with his free hand.

"Go away, he's trying to do his work," Lily hissed to James.

"Oh yeah, like you were?"

"You hypocrite!"

"You know you love me."

Remus felt very awkward, being in the middle of the argument as he so often was, being Lily's friend – yes, Remus still flinched at the possibilities that could unfold, but he had resolved to being friendly without trying to get any closer – and being James's roommate.

The bickering became louder but Professor Binns remained unfazed and continued to drone on about goblins rights through history. Remus was very glad when the lesson ended as he and the rest of the Gryffindors in his year moved from the History of Magic classroom to Transfiguration with Professor McGonagall.

The teacher began the lesson by asking Marlene McKinnon to hand out one match to each person. There was something about the prim lady kept the whole class quiet as they moved to their seats – except, to Remus's utter annoyance, James Potter and his friends.

Indeed, while the Professor was talking of the complexities of the subject she was teaching and how difficult Transfiguring a small cushion into a matchbox was, the three boys were sniggering quietly in the corner of the class.

"For the past term, you have only Transfigured things of a relatively similar size. Now you will begin Transfiguration of objects of different dimensions and weight." Professor McGonagall noticed James and Sirius and Peter snickering particularly joyfully and said, "Do you have something to say, you three?"

"Well, Transfiguration isn't nearly as hard as you say it is, for starters," James said loudly.

"Oh, really?" McGonagall said with a cold fury. "Perhaps you can demonstrate how simple it is then."

To Remus's, Lily's – and from the small flicker of emotion on her face, Professor McGonagall's – absolute shock and irritation, James managed to easily transform the pillow into a matchbox as easily as his grin appeared on his face.

Professor McGonagall recovered quickly. "Well, that was a very good show of magic, Mr Potter. Ten points to Gryffindor. You, however, have interrupted my class, so ten points from Gryffindor as well. Though you seem to know a lot more about Transfiguration than your fellow classmates, so much that you would so gladly do an essay by Monday for me to read out to the class the following day."

That wiped his grin off his face.

"Now, for everybody else, you will take your wands out and carefully practice the Transfiguration …"

By the end of the lesson, Lily managed to perfectly Transfigure the pillowcase, and at least Remus's cloth was definitely straighter and looked as if made of wood. Peter might have eaten his pillowcase. He still resolutely ignored Sirius. Mysteriously, Remus could not see James anywhere for the rest of the lesson, though he was probably, Remus reasoned, crying in the bathrooms over his extra homework or something. Remus accidentally had a hilarious, delighted conversation with Lily before he remembered to dislike her.

Potions was taught by Horace Slughorn, a large, walrus-like man with corn-coloured hair and a bushy moustache. He was quite jubilant, but preferred to talk to Sirius – even though he had a large dislike for Potions – and Lily, who had been taken to since the first lesson, rather than Remus. Remus was admittedly, very horrible at Potions, and this was made even worse by the addition of having the class with Slytherin, who disliked Gryffindor mutually.

Usually, Remus on a table with Lily and Severus, but due to a very loud argument between James and Severus that had attracted a lot of attention in the hallway the other day and that had none of the innocent playfulness of James and Lily, Severus was left in the Hospital Wing with a bloody nose for the rest of the day.

"Right, children," Slughorn announced. "This lesson is a very important practical lesson! You have studied the theory for a few potions these past weeks, and now you will work with a partner to brew a Forgetfulness Potion, Boil Cure and Herbicide. Whichever pair brews it the fastest and the finest will get a special reward from me. Turn to Page 54 to begin!"

Often, Lily would pair up with Severus and Remus with Peter, but today Lily partnered up with Remus. Obviously, Sirius and James were working together and Peter was left to pair up with a nasty looking Slytherin.

While Remus borrowed a container of Lethe River Water and passed it to Lily so she could pour two drops in, she muttered to him, "You really need to sort out your friends thing."

"What?" Remus said back, snatching a Valerian plant from James who waggled it playfully above his head.

"Well, sometimes you seem really friendly with James and Peter, and especially Sirius, and other times you push them away," Lily said back and dropped two sprigs in the cauldron before passing the plant to Mary McDonald.

"You wouldn't understand," Remus whispered back as he stirred the potion three times clockwise and then they left it to set for an hour.

"Okay, Cure for Boils now," Lily said, flipping to a page in _Book of Potions_. "Wow, it's complicated. And yes, Remus, I would totally understand!"

They set off for the potions cupboard for the ingredients.

"No, that's Pungous Onions not Fungus Bunions," Remus said. "And how do you know?"

"Give me the snake fangs," she said and he passed them over. "Oh we need to crush them! Can you do it? And you are my friend Remus, of course I would understand."

Remus began crushing the fangs with the flat side of a knife and winced at the 'F word'. "Lily…"

"Remus."

"Fine. I've got … a circumstance that makes it kind of bad for me to make friends," Remus said lamely.

Lily looked unperturbed. "Does it directly _stop_ you from making friends?"

"Well, no…"

Rolling her eyes, Lily sliced the foul-smelling onions with vigour and tossed them in. "Heat the cauldron, will you? Plus, now I know that you're just being a bit of a stupid idiot, you can stop Sirius pining after you again. It's getting really annoying, I have to partner with him every time we have a practical Charms lesson, you know? Flitwick probably thinks I can assert some control on him."

But only one thing registered. "Sirius has been pining after me?"

"Oh yeah, loads," Lily said, annoyed. "He really wants to be your friend and you've ignored for him for _weeks_ now, the least you can do is start talking to him again now that we've decided you can still make friends. I have to sit next to him in Charms, you know, and do all the partner tasks with him, though he does no work done while all he's doing is staring at you…"

Remus blushed.

"… Oh, here Potter comes…"

Indeed James arrived, smiling. "Do you think I could have a word with you, Lupin?"

"He – is – doing – his – work!" Lily hissed back.

"It's _serious_ ," James says under his breath, and then he chuckled like he just made a joke. "No, but, honestly, it's really important."

"Oh, fine," Remus said and Lily shot him a scandalised look. He shrugged apologetically.

James and Remus moved to a quieter corner and James began saying, "So about Sirius…"

"Oh, I know. I'll be friendlier with Sirius, and everything," Remus said quickly. "Or at the very least I'll clear things up with him."

"I – huh? What? Oh, OK. If you already know, that's great," James said and turned to go back to his table with the person they were talking about. At the least minute, he hesitated and swivelled around and said, "You know, Sirius has actually been really down. Just … hurry up and do it, OK?"

Now it was Remus's turn to be flustered. "I – What? Oh … I'm – oh…"

At the end of the lesson, it was Lily who had done the most work, and who had successfully brewed all three in the time limit. Indeed, three cauldrons, one boiling, one pink and one

"My, my!" Professor Slughorn bellowed near the end of the lesson. "My dear, Lily … I thought not even you! … oh, of course, Remus, you helped too? … well, I did promise a reward."

And with jealous eyes watching him, the large Professor went to his desk and from its drawers brandished a small, but very decorative, golden chest with swirls and patterns inscribed and gave an impression of intrigue and beauty. He also took out a smaller, wooden chest that looked decidedly less beautiful and looked close to breaking.

"Here, it's a potion-making kit! Lots of different little concoctions inside … nothing illegal … I'm sure you can all use it safely ... that wooden one is slightly empty ... I might have lost a few, or all, of the potions inside ... but it is a box where you can put some potions if you ever make any and decide to keep it!" Professor Slughorn said as he passed the golden box to Lily and the wooden one to Remus. Slightly resentful but thinking that it was very fair as Lily had done most of the work, he went to reach for his favourite quill to put in his bag when he remembered he had lost it.

To his surprise, Sirius approached him while he was packing up. Faux-casually, Sirius traced his finger around the table before saying, "You look sorta sad. Was it because of that grimy box Slughorn gave you?"

Remus laughed. "No, I just lost my favourite quill in Defence … it's nothing, really."

But Sirius seemed to think it was much more than nothing. Quickly telling Remus to stay where he was, Sirius rushed out the door to where James was in the hallway and had a hasty, fierce argument with James in which James passed something to Sirius at the end of it. Breathless, Sirius ran back to where Remus was standing, bewildered, as the former boy gave the latter his favourite quill back.

"James took it," Sirius panted, "for a laugh, you know. But … you seem really down about it. So I got it back."

And Remus's heart warmed up considerably and felt completely at ease as he walked out the door to the classroom, laughing and talking with Sirius like they had been friends forever, not wondering for a single moment how in the world James had gotten the quill in the first place.


	5. The Room of Retirement

"It is a room that a person can only enter when they have real need of it. Sometimes it is there, and sometimes it is not, but when it appears, it is always equipped for the seeker's needs."

 _\- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, J.K. Rowling_

* * *

Sirius was very careful to be kind and cautious around Remus for the next few days but Remus was elated – Sirius still liked him! He still wanted to be friends, even though Remus had been cold and aloof! It made Remus even more affectionate to Sirius.

During Herbology, Sirius charmed a vine to tickle Remus. Remus elbowed him but was laughing. In Transfiguration, Remus got in trouble – for the first time! – for talking with Sirius. While they were in History of Magic, Remus did not hear a word of the dull ghost Professor over Sirius whispering terrible jokes throughout the lesson. In Charms, Remus snorted rather unattractively when Sirius kept changing the colour of Lily's ink. Even during the meals, Remus would laugh and smile and joke with Sirius, and in an entirely different happiness that he felt with Lily, he was jubilant.

James seemed very happy, and kept on grinning at Remus. Remus even got to know Peter, who was sometimes much funnier and much kinder than James, and was happy to help Remus with his Herbology homework if Remus helped Peter with everything else.

Indeed, the only person who seemed unhappy at all about Remus's newfound happiness was the one who had introduced it to him in the first place – Lily.

She kept on sending furtive, sullen looks at Remus whenever he was talking with Sirius. One time in History of Magic, while Sirius was laughing breathily next to Remus and, they exchanged loud, giggly whispers, Lily shot him a resentful expression and Remus pushed Sirius's face away so he could talk in an undertone to Lily.

"So?" Remus said quietly. "Why are you so angry?"

Lily stuck her nose in the air. "I am doing my work."

"C'mon, Lily," Remus said.

"Oh, fine," said Lily. "I don't think that Potter or Sirius are good influences on you."

Remus said, "Lily…"

"Well they aren't! Have you _seen_ what Potter did to Severus the other day? Oh, I'm so glad he's out of the Hospital Wing, he told me just now."

"How did he tell you 'just now'?" Remus asked slowly. "We're an hour into the lessons and we aren't having it with Slytherin."

Lily looked alarmed suddenly. "Oh, you know what I mean, at breakfast…"

"Yeah, okay. But, Lily, they're very nice to me!"

"So am I!"

"Are you jealous?" Remus wondered.

"No! Maybe. Yes," Lily hissed back. "You're such a nice person and you're so intelligent and you deserve much better friends than them."

Remus rolled his eyes. "Lily, they're perfect friends. And so are you."

"Oh, fine!"

Remus returned to Sirius, who looked at him suspiciously.

"Why were you talking to her?"

"Oh, not you too!"

The lesson was punctured by the arrival of Professor McGonagall, who was grim faced and solemn and who said, "Professor Binns, may I speak to you for a moment outside the classroom? And all of you," she called to the rest of the Gryffindors, "continue working."

"Huh? Oh, all right," Binns said and floated out of the door with Professor McGonagall.

The class erupted into loud titters.

"McGonagall looked so serious, I wonder what they're talking about!"

"D'you think the Wandering Wormwood got lost again?"

"I hope not, it took Sprout ages to catch…"

Lily looked up from her parchment. "Severus said that Dumbledore just interrupted their Herbology class too!"

"How in the world are you communicating with him?"

"I … well, that's not important!" Lily said. "What's important is what Dumbledore and McGonagall need to say to the teachers … oh look, Binns is back."

The ghost looked very troubled. "I have to inform all of you that a dragon is going to be held in Hogwarts this year."

This proclamation was met with loud sounds of excitement.

"Wow, Professor Binns, really?" James said enthusiastically.

"What type of dragon is it?"

"Where will it be kept?"

"Can we see it?"

"Is it dangerous?"

Professor Binns waved away all the questions. "Professor McGonagall had very little time to tell me the details. She did tell me, however, that the dragon is going to be kept in Hogwarts due to the massive protection Hogwarts provides and the lack of any suitable other places where lots will be safe. The place where it will be kept is going to not be revealed to students and should any student discover its whereabouts will stay very far away!"

Grumbles of irritation echoed through the room.

"The dragon is a baby, and will be sedated very often, though it is somewhat wild and aggressive," Professor Binns continued over the mutterings. "Apparently the MacFusty family, a clan known for being very good at taking care of dragons, cannot even control the wild beast. I am sure that Headmaster Dumbledore, however, will take good of the beast and will protect Hogwarts castle and its inhabitants."

"A dragon, Remus!" Sirius hissed at him excitedly.

Even Lily seemed enthralled about it. "Dragons are quite rare to see nowadays … I'd love to catch a glimpse of one!"

"But, that was only told to you because the Headmaster is required to let all students and staff know by law. Now, where was I? Ah, so … the goblin rebellion of 1612 that happened in Hogsmeade caused many casualties for both goblin and man …"

Everybody groaned and fell silent as the class continued.

But Remus's only thought during the rest of the lesson and the rest of the week was that Hogwarts would soon be home to another monster like him.

* * *

A roar echoed in Remus's ear.

He jumped, his book in his lap forgotten as James, Sirius and Peter howled with laughter. Remus shoved Sirius – who had been the one to scare Remus – away but was grinning. Lily shot a scandalised look at the four of them.

They were at the Gryffindor table eating breakfast. Remus had been reading a book and Sirius, of course, thought it had been hysterical to interrupt him

"Oh, very funny, absolutely hilarious," Remus said, lifting a spoonful of soup to his mouth.

"It's Hallowe'en, Remus, are you scared?" asked Sirius, grinning playfully at him while James and Peter made spooky ghost noises behind him.

"Extremely," he replied, getting up to go to class.

"Oh, we'll get you, Remus, we _will_ scare you!"

"I'll be counting on it!"

Remus was not excited at all to use his new potion-making kit from the Potions class, but was surprised when he opened it up in his dormitory. Slughorn had been mistaken – the potion-making kit was not entirely empty. In fact, it was quite full, but the ingredients like plants were shrivelled and old and Remus discarded them immediately. A stirring rod was unbroken and Remus dusted it off with his sleeve. A silver knife flew from the kit as soon as he had opened it and almost decapitated him, and a smooth cutting board could magically fold inwards. Lots of little bottles, some filled and most empty, were lined up messily. All in all, much better than Remus could afford normally.

Quite satisfied, he carried his potion-making kit with him for single Potions.

Unfortunately, they were not doing a practical lesson today, but instead were copying down notes Slughorn was talking about Wiggenweld Potion.

"You see," Slughorn said merrily, "a Muggle story has been originated from the famous healing potion, which awakes the affected. A Hag named Leticia Somnolens gave a princess the Draught of Living Death through the administration of a tainted spindle and the poor princess fell into a deep sleep. A wizard prince came along however and cured the princess by smearing the Wiggenweld potion on his lips and delivering the healing by lips. It is now known however that Wiggenweld potion is best administered through direct contact with flesh rather than drinking, as it is rather poisonous when swallowed."

"Ugh, I have to carry this all the way back to the Gryffindor Common Room and then get it back for the end of the day when we're doing the practical," Remus whispered to Lily. Severus was back in class, though he had a few bandages wrapped around his arm and he looked quite angry and wasn't talking to anybody.

Lily said, "Yeah, well, you can always put it in the Room of Requirement for now, and get it back later."

"The what?"

"The Room of Requirement," Lily said impatiently. "It's a room on the Seventh Floor that becomes … well, whatever you want it to be, when you have a real need for it. It disappears and reappears at your command, really. You can always ask for a place to keep your kit for now and grab it back when you need it."

Remus was sceptical. "The Room of Requirement?"

"It's on the left corridor, near the Hall of Hexes."

"Yeah … all right."

"It's true, Severus has used it, when he doesn't want to go to Madam Pomfrey after someone has hexed him or else he might get in trouble," Lily explained quietly. "You walk three times back and forth until a door appears and what you're looking for is there. Try it."

The lesson ended abruptly when Peter managed to drop a shelf of colourful potions and make a small explosion. Slughorn laughed good-naturedly and ushered them all out, except for poor Peter who had to clean up.

Herbology was very eventful that day, as Sirius and James tried to scare Remus by thrusting a revolting looking plant in his face, but accidentally scaring Peter instead and earning the two of them detention and a smirk from Remus.

Defence Against the Dark Arts, too, was riddled with Sirius and James creeping up on Remus, but Remus just rolled his eyes at their attempts and even Professor Tacey sent them a quelling look and wrote fiercely on the board that they had another detention for smuggling a Shrieking Shellfish into class.

They didn't dare do anything in Transfiguration with Professor McGonagall sending sharp looks at the two boys, obviously having heard of the trouble they had caused earlier in the day. Although in Double Charms they did try setting Remus's table alight, but Flitwick sent a jet of clear water to put the fire out, and also a torrent of water that almost drowned the two troublemakers and left the two drenched, cold and with another detention on their belts.

"Given up?" Remus asked innocently as they approached Potions near the end of the day, getting closer to the Hallowe'en feast.

"Never," Sirius said.

Potions consisted of brewing the Wideye Potion, a much simpler relative of the Wiggenweld one. Remus partnered with Peter and while Remus crushed the Billywig Stings, snake fangs and Standard Ingredient, Peter said under his breath, "They're planning to do something really big to scare you during the feast."

With this in his mind, he made his way to the Gryffindor table, where Sirius and James suspiciously absent. Hundreds of live bats flapped around the hall, illuminated by haunting candles. Spider webs stretched from ceiling to wall in spooky patterns. Large pumpkins carved so they lit up like lamps and even a singing band of skeletons. Everything made him paranoid, and he heard the table rattle once as if people had stepped on it, though there was definitely nobody standing on the table.

Remus bent his head over his meal and suddenly two feet were visible in front of him and two legs and two certain Gryffindor first year boys saying, "Boo!"

This made Remus jump back and he fell, his hand and leg slamming painfully onto the floor. They were both bleeding.

"Whoops, I'm so sorry," James said, half-apologetic and half-amused.

"Remus! Ah, I'm stupid, I'm sorry, you all right?" Sirius said, much more regretful.

"Yeah, it's fine," Remus said, embarrassed. "I'll just go get a bandage from Madam Pomfrey."

"I'll come with you," Sirius said, and Remus had a wild vision of Remus rolling up his pants leg and revealing nasty scars all over his leg and decided that he did not want Sirius to see them, because he would get worried and also would question how Remus had received them.

"No, I'm fine, I really am," Remus said hastily.

But when he went to the Hospital Wing, Madam Pomfrey was not there. One of the patients told him she was off tending to something or other on the Seventh Floor.

Sighing, he made his way up all the stairs, careful not to go on the moving ones or the fake ones, and he arrived on the Seventh Floor and looked around for Madam Pomfrey. She was nowhere to be found. Remus approached the left corridor and whipped around when he saw somebody walking away from an opening in a wall.

It was Madam Pomfrey, and Remus wondered if he should call out to her. But his injury was deadened and muffled by the new discovery. The door in the wall was slowly disappearing, and suddenly it looked as if there had never been a door in the first place.

Ignoring Madam Pomfrey walking down the Grand Staircase, his attention turned to the wall. Well, this must be the Room of Requirement, he decided, its vanishing matching the description Lily had given him.

Remus walked three times next to the wall, all the time thinking, _I really need a place to heal my leg. I need a place to heal. A place to heal._

And to his utter amazement, a wooden door materialised. Without thinking, he wrenched the door open and stepped in and was met by the most bizarre sight he had ever seen.

Here was an enormous room, half the size of the Quidditch pitch that James stared so yearningly at. Shelves upon shelves of bandages, dressings, and plasters lined up from ceiling to floor. Bottles and flasks of medicines, liquids and potions stood uniformly on shelves against the wall. Medications, draughts, pills and needles were all scattered about. Cushions and beds and pillows and sofas were all so comfortable and Remus very much would have liked to rest in them. And in the centre was a large, round cage, encircling and entrapping the strangest sight in the entire place – a dragon.


	6. The Creature and its Cage

"He's got a beast in his belly that's so hard to control."

 _\- Superheroes, The Script_

* * *

The dragon was quite small by normal standards, but still bigger than Remus, and it was sleeping. It had dark, jagged scales with ridges on its back. Its long, black arms and its dangerous claws digging into the floor largely obscured a purple underbelly. A scarlet tongue flickered in and out of its maw and its huge, bat-like wings flapped as it slept. At the end of its curling, winding tail, an arrow-shaped spike protruded and glinted menacingly. There seemed to be a collar of a sort around its neck, with a shiny nametag attached to it, though Remus could not see it because it was sleeping on top of it. As it slept, smoke billowed from its nostrils.

Remus, fascinated, approached the huge enclosure carefully. This must be the dragon that Dumbledore had brought into the school. A cage not dissimilar to one of a bird's, with bars of what looked to be iron confined the dragon. As Remus neared the prison, he became aware of deep cuts all over the dragon's flesh, and of burn marks. Some bandages were plastered against its scales, but others were bloody and ripped off.

Sudden pity rushed through him. The dragon was young – he had not heard much about dragons, but he guessed that as a youngling, it could not control its own power well and had burned and scratched itself. Remus could not help but empathise, as his werewolf form was just as uncontrolled and wild.

The dragon was actually quite beautiful. Its purple underside was unmarred and brilliant against the dark, rugged scales on its back that shined in the Room's light. The dragon slept very uneasily, though, and kept moving restlessly as if the sleep had been issued by medicine or magic rather than drowsiness.

"You're kept in here against your will, huh?" Remus said quietly, sitting down next to the cage. Asleep, the dragon could do no harm, right?

"I feel like that sometimes too. I mean – I'm really glad I'm at Hogwarts and I'm sure you would be glad if you knew you were much safer here. But – sometimes I just want to _escape_ , especially the rules set by my father, because I'm still not allowed to make friends, but I'm doing it anyway, yeah?"

Remus traced his finger around the floor, similar to Sirius had done a few weeks ago the day they decided to be friendly again. "I mean, I'm sure you have a much more serious problem, being jailed in a cage. I hope you aren't going to stay confined for very long. You got moved because you were really different? I had to move a lot too before I got accepted into Hogwarts … I hope one day you find a place like Hogwarts.

"I don't suppose you have a lot of chance to make friends in a place like this," Remus said. "I have this one friend named Sirius, he's really nice, though I don't have any idea what he'd say if I told him I was a werewolf. I don't suppose you would have to come out to people and tell them if you're a dragon …

"But I guess we're kind of in the same boat," Remus said thoughtfully. "I mean apart from the fact that you're a dragon, and I'm a werewolf. You don't seem to be a really evil beast when you're sleeping, and I'm a great person most of the time … I guess we both don't really want to be in the situation we're in right now … but we can't stop being monsters, right?"

The room lapsed into silence as Remus stopped talking.

Remus let out a yelp of surprise when the dragon snored and a short stream of flame issued from its nostrils.

His cry awoke the dragon and then, horrifyingly, the dragon began caterwauling in a babyish shriek. The screams terrified Remus and he stared, frozen in horror. The black reptilian screeched and thrashed about, and the few bandages still covering its scaly skin were ripped off in its crazy struggle. It looked in pain, blood pouring from its poorly attended-to wounds.

Its throat glowed luminescent yellow before blazing, deadly fire gushed from its mouth and searing, hot fire blasted at everything in the vicinity.

Remus shouted in alarm, but the dragon's fire stopped at the cage's bars. The magical metal seemed to soak up the flames rather than melt, but the black dragon kept on flooding fire from its maw, a loud, terrible noise echoing in its belly.

And finally when the beast had no more flames to discharge but only smoke flew from his gullet. Exhausted from its tantrum, it slumped against the ground. Remus was reminded forcibly of his outbursts of uncontrollable rage and anger as a werewolf and how he woke up, exhausted because of the fierce battle between himself and the werewolf inside.

So the metal absorbed flame. It was obvious now – of course there was safety precautions. But it felt wrong to see the potent beast's strongest power reduced and diminished.

Warily, Remus inched closer to the dragon and he was able to see what the nametag said from the new position the dragon was sleeping in. It read: _Archimedes_.

"I'm not sure about Archimedes," Remus said slowly, "I think I like Archie much better."

* * *

It was very hard for Remus not to reveal his secret visits to the Room of Requirement – the Room of Retirement, his nickname for the room full of beds and cushions he could lie down in while observing the dragon – to all of his friends. Lily was very suspicious when Remus told her he was going to the library one day, when he was actually going to watch and see the dragon and its health condition again.

"You never go to the library," Lily said sceptically. They were in the common room and Remus was about to leave when Lily asked him loudly where he was going.

"Yes, I do," Remus told her.

Lily narrowed her eyes but did not voice any more questions aloud.

Another secret he was finding hard to keep was his lycanthropy, and his monthly transformations. One day after the full moon, Sirius had whispered to him during Herbology class, "Where were you last night?"

"I … huh?" Remus said, and dread filled him.

"You weren't in your bed."

Remus thought wildly. "I visit my mother a lot. She's really sick nowadays."

"Yeah, all right…"

During one Transfiguration lesson, Lily kept on hissing at Remus while they were trying to change forks into fortune balls.

"Remus, if you're doing anything illegal!"

"Of course I'm not," Remus said impatiently and tried to think of something to change the subject. "By the way, holidays are soon, you know what you're going to do then?"

"Holidays aren't for almost two months, Remus," Lily said testily. "And I have no idea, though I might not be going home if Severus isn't. I might ask him now actually…"

"How the hell are you going to ask him?" Remus said. "You're obviously not going to walk out of class to his lesson, so how are you talking with each other?"

Lily looked furious with herself. "That's none of your business."

"Then what I'm doing is none of yours."

They sent angry looks at each other.

The next lesson was Defence Against the Dark Arts, where Sirius managed to tick off Professor Tacey so much by talking and laughing that she wrote furiously on the board that he had detentions every Saturday for the rest of the term.

James was mysteriously missing from the lesson the majority of the time, and Lily kept on making alarmed noises, saying that she felt someone pull her hair or pinch her shoulder, which made Remus think that the absent James was behind it all. Of course, he had no proof, and Professor Tacey also seemed to think so, because she just sent a quelling look at Lily whenever she yelped. Remus was utterly astonished when he saw James sit smugly in his seat near the end of the lesson and Remus stared suspiciously at him. There were so many mysteries occurring in their year, and neither Remus nor Lily were close to discovering any of the other's or James's secrets.

One day, perhaps the first time Remus had ever visited the place, he made a trip to the library. The librarian was a cruel, sallow-faced lady named Madam Pince, who was very mistrustful of all students. When Remus borrowed five books, some of which included _A Dragon Keeper's Guide_ , _Dragon Species of Great Britain and Ireland_ and _Magical Injuries on Animals: A Guide for Magizoologist Healers_ , Madam Pince glared at him very suspiciously and he ran away before she could say anything about it.

He nestled up in his bed in the Gryffindor first-year's dormitories, where Lily would hopefully not follow him up, and pored over the books. From the book about dragon species, he learned that Archie was a Hebridean Black, an aggressive beast that could grow to thirty feet long. He learned much about keeping dragons healthy, and learned with a bit of revulsion that Archie's species liked to eat deer and cows. They were untameable, as Remus learned with a bit of disappointment, but they were known to form attachments to human beings who spent a lot of time with them and were kind to them. Apparently, dragon body parts like blood, hide and horns had many uses in the Wizarding World. Dragon eggs were illegal to trade and sell with.

Armed with new information, the next day, Remus crept into the Room of Retirement again and attempted to use the Room of Requirement's magical ability to help the dragon. Obviously, somebody had once again sedated the dragon so Madam Pomfrey could reapply the plasters and bandages, though they were poorly put on as if she did not want to get too close to the dragon.

"I really want a dead deer for Archie," Remus said aloud, not untruthfully, and to his disgust but also surprise, he turned around and found the carcass of a dead doe. Not looking at the corpse, he lifted the poor animal up and tossed it into the cage.

Archie looked delighted. Breathing fire through its nostrils, he blackened and burned the dead animal, though it seemed that he had been planning to do that anyways. Remus looked away as Archie gobbled up the deer and gave a roar of joy.

The process happened again and again, Remus willing the Room to conjure up a dead animal and then throwing it into the awaiting mouth of Archie.

The dragon's eyes, Remus now noticed because the distraction of fire and smoke was gone, were a brilliant, beautiful purple, just like his underbelly.

"Archie likes cows better than deer," Remus noted, "but cows are so much heavier to lift. I guess I'll drag them over to him, and let him get close to eat it."

And over the weeks, Remus began to genuinely like the time he spent with Archie. Remus was patient with the dragon, and was not irritated when Archie got into a tantrum and had a fiery outburst ever so often. The dragon was quite friendly whenever Remus tossed him his food.

Whether it was because Remus pitied the dragon who was bandaged improperly but scared matrons and was constantly in pain or if he felt a strong attachment to the dragon, a lone beast prone to occasional spouts of instability, because they were alike was a mystery to Remus. Remus should have felt no obligation, no need to care for the dragon – after all, it was Albus Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey who were the ones responsible for the wellbeing of the dragon – but he did anyway, and felt happy to sit with the dragon and talk with him, though Remus was sure Archie had no idea what he was saying and only knew Remus by the boy who brought him food everyday.

"You're really easy to talk to," Remus said quietly one day, though it was probably because the dragon could not talk back.

Remus had even attempted to heal the dragon. Of course, Remus had no way of getting into the cage and applying medicine to the wounds and would not dare to anyway, for fear of Archie, who was still quite an angry beast. But Remus had expressed his desire for drinkable remedies and a vial of fluorescent green potion appeared. Gingerly, he poured it all over another cow the Room had given him and had passed Archie the medicine-soaked animal to eat once again.

Over the many days Remus saw the signs of improvement on the animal's body and saw that the gashes and lacerations looked older and less fresh. Remus had no way of applying the burn salve, which could only be put on directly but thought that he had done a satisfactory job of soothing the cuts.

Once, Archie didn't even get in a tantrum for Remus's whole visit.

* * *

"You're so much happier nowadays, it's awesome," Sirius said to him, during lunch. Then his tone became playful. "Is it because of my charming atmosphere?"

Partly, Remus thought. "Yeah, you light up my world, Sirius."

Sirius smiled.

"I'm sorry I've been a bit distant the past few weeks, I got a new … hobby, so to speak," Remus said.

"That's fine. As long as you're happy."

Remus grinned despite himself.

A question that had been nagging at Remus for days burst out of him. "Sirius, will you always be my friend?"

"No matter what," he said immediately.

"Through thick and thin?"

"Through flame and flood, through storms and sunshine," said Sirius, sounding profoundly more poetic than he usually was.

"Even if nobody else liked me because of something I couldn't help?"

"Nobody could ever not like you–"

"Say if they did."

"Fine. Of course I would be friends with you, I said no matter what. Remus, I–"

"What if I was Muggleborn? Or if I was gay? Or a wer–"

"Remus!" Sirius said, laughing. He grabbed Remus's shaking hands and clasped them tightly in his warm ones. Sirius leaned forward, and his black hair fell carelessly. Remus's golden brown eyes stared raptly into Sirius's grey ones. Remus was suddenly aware of Sirius, only Sirius, only Sirius's playful, elegant hands and Sirius's eyelashes and Sirius's everything.

"I will _always_ love you," Sirius said, like the L word didn't make Remus jolt, "because you're my friend, no matter what you become, because you're Remus Lupin and one of my best friends and the funniest, smartest person I've ever met. You are my friend, and will always be."

Remus's hands fell reluctantly and his cheeks pinked and he stared idly into his breakfast, long after James took Sirius away, thinking hard about what had happen. Sirius had surprised him with his intelligence and his kindness. Sirius had made Remus blush once again, made his mind wander places no best friend should have to wander when thinking of their best friend.

But most of all, Sirius had Remus start thinking that he wasn't a monster after all.

* * *

 **A/N:** It's my birthday tomorrow! Yay!


	7. The Eavesdropper's Friend

"The key to good eavesdropping is not getting caught."

 _\- The Blank Book, Lemony Snicket_

* * *

Christmastime was coming. Hagrid was seen carrying twelve, towering Christmas trees into the Great Hall. Professor McGonagall conjured festoons of holly, mistletoe and other decorations in the Christmas spirit. Professor Flitwick had enchanted icicles to glisten and last forever, and had also brought in live fairies to that danced around the trees. In addition, snowflakes fell in pretty patterns from the ceiling of the Great Hall and suits of armour bellowed carols. Peeves the poltergeist sang ruder versions of them.

Even the weather seemed to be getting into a festive mood. Snow fell in a large deluge and soon the grounds were several feet full of white fluffiness. Warmer clothes and happier grins were donned and it felt like Christmas to Remus even a few weeks before its arrival.

"How is it," Remus was saying to Sirius as they walked to the Greenhouses for Herbology, "that you don't get cold?"

Sirius was wearing his normal robes over his uniform, but nothing else, unlike the thick scarves and the woolly gloves everybody else had put on. Remus had wanted to follow everybody else's example, but had admittedly forgotten. He was quite shivery.

"Huh?" Sirius said, "are you cold?"

"A bit."

"Here, have my robes."

"What?" Remus said, but the other boy was already taking off the black Hogwarts robes.

Feeling quite gratified and decidedly less chilly, Remus walked with Sirius for the rest of the way in silence to Herbology, where Professor Sprout said they were going to be transporting Puffapod beans into pots. It looked quite bizarre, two-dozen shining beans floating in the air behind her.

"Now you see," Professor Sprout said briskly, "Puffapod beans immediately bloom when they come into contact with any solid object, so we obviously can't have them flowering on the floor or a table. We'll have to levitate them to their respective pots. I suppose you all have learned the Levitation Charm in Charms by now?"

Peter groaned. They had all learned how to perform it the previous Charms lesson, except Peter who had not managed to make a speck of dust rise into the air.

"Well, off you go," said Professor Sprout. "Anyone who does not successfully pot their plant by the end of the lesson will have to come back after dinner and do it again. It's very important for your end-of-year exams!"

"Our exams aren't even for another half year," said Sirius darkly.

"Go!" Professor Sprout said.

There were choruses of " _Wingardium Leviosa_!" and echoes of laughter as Puffapod plants burst into bloom, seeds tumbling to the floor and even those of which were accidentally touched by hands flowered in people's palms. Even Mary MacDonald, usually shy and timid, had burst into giggles as her wand accidentally poked the seeds and a Puffapod blossomed into existence.

Professor Sprout was not surprised and looked quite amused. "Keep it up! Give me your pot when you've planted the seeds properly."

By the end of the lesson, Remus had successfully floated his Puffapod seeds into the soil and had grown considerably. So had everybody else – except Peter, who looked disheartened as Professor Sprout reprimanded him and told him to come back some time after dinner with a report about the use of Charms in planting and growing, or a thousand week's detention was in store for him.

* * *

"I can't do this, I'm no good at it," Peter moaned and set down his wand to rifle through his essay. "I'm no good at anything."

They were in the Common Room a bit after dinner and were practicing Levitation Charms. Remus had learned it ages ago – he was meant to be practicing the charm for hearing through walls, or the Eavesdropper's Friend. Peter was very anxious.

"Peter," Remus said patiently. "You _are_ good at things, especially wandwork! And you _can_ do this. Just concentrate, and do the wand movement, and you will do it."

"Oh, OK," Peter said, quite mollified by Remus's praise. "I'll try again…"

Then Peter set his essay down and swished his wand, pointing it directly at the tissue and saying, " _Wingardium Leviosa_!" The tissue rose into the air shakily and then dropped.

"I did it!" Peter said loudly to Remus, shaking his shoulders. "Wow! Thanks, Remus, I did it! I've got to show Sirius, and then Sprout!"

Remus smiled as Peter darted off.

"You're really nice to them," Lily said as she slid into the seat beside him. "A bit too much so."

"You should be nice to them too," said Remus.

"If they were nice to Severus!" Lily said adamantly. And as an afterthought, added, "And me."

"They'll be nicer to you if you're not so angry all the time," Remus said gently, hoping to soothe her.

It did the opposite. She burst out, "No! They started it, and they need to apologise before we can ever be friendly."

Remus sent her an exasperated look, which she returned.

"I wonder where Potter is," she said, looking suspiciously over at Sirius, who looked quite bored as he wrote on his essay.

"Why are you so obsessed with him?" he asked. "I mean, he hasn't done anything wrong – or, _more_ wrong than he usually does."

"He's up to something!" Lily said. "He's never in any classes, _and_ I know that he sneaks around with Black and Pettigrew. I don't know how he does it, but I do _want_ to know. If they're doing all that illegally…"

But Remus knew James enough to say: "No. James isn't the paragon of morality and ethical standards, but he isn't a criminal, and neither are Sirius or Peter. I won't have you saying things like that."

Lily looked quite sheepish, but nevertheless said, "Well…I'm still going to find out what he's doing."

Remus rolled his eyes. "Well, if you do, tell him to take me on his out-of-class trips sometimes, I could sure do with missing a few Potions lessons."

"Oh, you're not that bad…"

"I actually managed to make that frog sleepier when I gave it Wideye Potion."

They burst into laughter.

"Oh," he said, spotting Peter's essay still lying on the table. "He forgot it. I'll go give it to him then…"

He picked the parchment up and as he made his way to the door of the Common Room, he collided with something unseen and fell backwards.

"Oh, sorry!" Remus said, but there was nobody and nothing there.

Whipping his head up, he looked around suspiciously for whatever he had collided with, but either the invisible force remained hidden or it was never there in the first place. Looking around the Gryffindor Common Room, the only change was that James was next to Sirius now, talking breathlessly. He probably tried to sneak into the Girls' dormitory or something.

"Severus must have slipped an Essence of Insanity in my water," Remus muttered and left for the Herbology greenhouses, where Professor Sprout's office was next to.

To his surprise, Peter was outside rather than inside the office.

"Hey Pete," Remus said to the boy, who was again quite worried. "You left your Herbology essay."

"Oh – _oh_!" Peter said and took it back. "Thanks!"

"No worries. But why aren't you in the office?"

Peter looked apprehensive. "Dumbledore's having a word with here. Something about which plants are best to heal cuts for reptiles. D'you think Dumbledore has a pet lizard or something?"

"Something like that," Remus said, thinking of Archie. Immediately, he took out his wand, pointed to the door and said the charm he had been practicing, " _Audecept_."

The Eavesdropper's Friend suddenly amplified the murmured voices of the two professors.

"What are you–?" Peter asked, but Remus shushed him.

"…Curing Clover might work too, but Albus, surely you already know all this?"

"Indeed I do, Pomona. I was hoping we could recreate the potion that has been administered by some mysterious force to Archimedes and I was wondering if your expertise could enlighten me about the contents of it?" Professor Dumbledore said.

"You should ask Horace," Professor Sprout replied.

"I have."

"Have you asked Enid?" Professor Sprout said, and it took him a moment to remember that it was Professor Tacey's first name.

"I have, but she has sadly not replied either verbally or through written text. I asked all the teachers, and I also have requested the magic of the Room to provide me with its ingredients, so as to recreate it, but sadly the Room does not think I am in real need of it. Perhaps only the mysterious visitor can ask the Room of it."

"But you know who the constant visitor is?"

"Oh, yes."

Remus's heart stopped. So Dumbledore knew he was not only visiting the dragon often, but also giving it that neon green potion? What else did Dumbledore know? Did he know of James's secrets, of Lily's?

"Maybe you should ask them–?"

"I shall not," Dumbledore said, "for I rather think that if I ask them to duplicate the potion, or to give it to me to study, it would rather be that it is not _their_ desire, but _mine_ , and the Room's magic would cease to work."

"I don't understand."

It sounded like Dumbledore was smiling. "Me neither, really. Well, thank you for your expertise Pomona, I shall surely have a good look at the plants you have told me about. Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Professor," Professor Sprout said and then Remus knew he would only have a few second's notice to act.

Whispering, " _Finite Incantatem_ ," and throwing himself against the side of the office, Remus listened to Dumbledore creak the door open and say, "Hello there, Peter, I apologise that I had to keep you waiting."

"No worries, Professor," Peter squeaked and it sounded like Dumbledore was leaving.

"And goodnight to you too, Mr Lupin!" Dumbledore called without seeing him and Remus's heart hammered.

It was hard to hide things from Albus Dumbledore.

* * *

Remus had rarely spoken to Severus Snape, and it was odd to do so.

"Severus," Remus said during Potions class. Slughorn had adoringly asked Lily to go on a message for him, so he was left sitting next to the silent, but sullen Severus.

"What?"

"Do you know any healing potions?"

Severus gave him a look of immense distrust. "Why? Have you broken a limb? Is your mother _sick_ again?" he said, sneering, and Remus was sure that Severus had noticed his monthly disappearances and reappearances in the Hospital Wing too.

"No, I just wanted to know," Remus said quickly. "Do you? Especially for cuts and things."

"We have not had any assessments or assignments or homework about healing potions."

"I know! This isn't for schoolwork. I just wanted to know." The truth was, however, he wanted to use it not only for Archie's constant wounds from his own claws, but also for Remus's own self after his transformations, so he didn't miss so many lessons staying in the Hospital Wing.

Severus grinned uncharacteristically as if an idea had just popped into his head. Hopefully the idea was to be kind to Remus. "Okay. I'll write you the recipe for it after class."

Indeed he did, a very long, intricate set of instructions in small, untidy scrawl. "Uh, thanks," Remus said.

"No problem," Severus said mockingly.

"Do you … do you want anything in return?" Remus wondered.

"Well, I certainly won't ask you to brew a potion for me."

Remus flushed red. "All right, then."

Severus had a different kind of joking to Lily, or Sirius, or James, or even Peter. Remus thought humour was quite important in friendship. Remus thought himself sometimes quite witty, maybe only compared to Sirius, sometimes a little sarcastic. Lily and Remus had the same kind of humour, intellectual and smart pleasantries. Sirius did the strangest things, the nicest things and the silliest things that made Remus snort unattractively and let himself go with laughter. James loved practical jokes, pranks and tricks, most of the time at the expense of others, but never cruel. Peter found stories hilarious, stories that Remus told him about Muggles, stories about James and Sirius's folly. Severus, however, was rather mean.

Remus decided that he didn't like Severus that much, but Lily liked him, so Remus guessed that Severus must have _some_ good qualities.

"Well, bye then," Remus said awkwardly.

"Have fun making the potion!"

Remus left Severus and made his way to Sirius.

"Why were you talking to Snape?" Sirius said, narrowing his eyes and looking at Severus. Remus knew Sirius and James disliked Severus thoroughly, and that the feeling was mutual.

"Oh, didn't you hear? He and I are dating," Remus said, and at his friend's appraising look, he laughed. "I'm joking. I wanted to ask him about a potion. He's really good at Potions, you know."

"If only he was good at making friends too," Sirius said.

"Severus has Lily," Remus reasoned.

"Yeah, and I don't know what she sees in him," James said behind them.

"Maybe you should wear glasses," Lily called. "Oh, wait."

Even Sirius laughed.

* * *

 **A/N** : Just a few things: thanks for all the reviews, favourites and follows! I'm overwhelmed by the number :) Sorry for the short chapter, I wasn't feeling very inspired or really wanted to continue this for a day ha but I started reading the Princess Bride instead of Game of Thrones and loved the cute light fantasy. Also, I made up the spell _Audecept_ ; it's a pun on _aucept_ which I'm pretty sure is eavesdrop in Latin, the word _audio_ and _deception_ because eavesdropping is deceit ... Get it? I'm really lame.


	8. Dragon's Fire

"There's no need to be afraid of this  
Let me melt you with my dragon-kiss."

 _\- Firestorm, Xandria_

* * *

"Remus, wake up!"

He was vaguely aware of something like a dog attacking him with a pillow. It was Sirius, looking excited.

Panicking, Remus flailed around for his blanket and drew it up to his bare chest. Where was his shirt? "Sirius! I haven't … I'm not…"

But Remus was not scared of Sirius judging his thin physique or for fear of exposure of his shirtless body. He was frightened by the prospect of Sirius seeing his scars and questions popping up and then his secret being found out.

Sirius did not seem to notice. He laughed, said, "Fine, put on a shirt, but then follow me!" and bounded away.

It was Christmas, Remus realised. In the blur of events following up to the momentous occasion, he had forgotten about the holiday. He had added his name to a list of people staying at Hogwarts for the holidays due to the full moon coming very shortly. He would have thought it terribly insensitive to transform at his parent's house and had firmly signed his name onto the roll of parchment.

Out of all the Gryffindors in his year, only Sirius was staying as well. Remus had not asked why yet.

When he was dressed, he followed Sirius, who called him over with a vigorous wave. "Come, look!"

And there was a pile of presents from all of Remus's friends and family. A thick book about Charms from Lily. A thick sweater from James that flew around the Common Room of its own will and tried to strangle Sirius. A magical wand polish and cloth from Peter. A box of chocolates from Sirius. A cleaner, newer set of robes from his parents. And an enormous book, even thicker than the one Lily had given him, about dragons, dragon-keeping and domestication and another smaller, thinner book about healing in Magizoology. An unsigned, small note with thin, loopy handwriting saying " _Use them well_ " was attached to the volumes, and Remus was sure they were from Dumbledore.

"Thanks, Sirius," Remus said, smiling. A nice, warm feeling spread throughout his chest. He was glowing with exuberance at the fact his friends gave him all of this.

"I wasn't sure you'd like it," Sirius admitted, gesturing to the chocolates.

"I'd like _anything_ you give to me," said Remus, wiggling his eyebrows, and Sirius pushed him away, laughing.

They ended up eating some of Remus's chocolate before going down to the feast. About three-dozen other Gryffindors were at the feast. Some teachers, with the exception of Professor Slughorn and Madam Pomfrey.

Sirius sidled up next to Remus and they began marvelling at the food being laid out. The tables were laden with a hundred fat, roast turkeys, tureens of buttered vegetables, silver pots of thick, creamy gravy and cranberry sauce. Flaming Christmas puddings with hidden Sickles in them were served. Platters of sausages and mountains of roasted and boiled potatoes piled up next to bottles upon bottles of wine, eggnog, hot chocolate and brandy.

The most exciting thing, however, was the wizard's crackers. Remus and Sirius ripped one open and it exploded and engulfed them in colourful smoke and left them covered in multi-coloured powder. They roared in laughter at the other, before looking down at themselves. Another cracker opened up into a band of a hundred mice, which all squeaked and scurried on the floor and Professor Flitwick spent ten minutes rounding them all up. The last cracker they opened into a bouquet of flowers that Remus gave to Sirius, but the latter began sneezing incessantly and the rest of their morning was spent with Remus nursing Sirius, much to both their embarrassment.

After Sirius stopped sneezing like a madman, they both put thick, warm robes on each other so they could go outside without dying of frostbite. They had a furious snowball fight down in the Courtyard, where Sirius obviously thought he was better than Remus and hesitated to fight, but Remus proceeded to pummel him with snow. When they finished, they staggered, breathless and tired, and fell next to each other on the floor of the Dormitory.

"Oh, I forgot," Sirius said. "Merry Christmas, Remus."

Remus smiled and his hand found Sirius's resting beside him. "Merry Christmas, Sirius."

* * *

When night had fallen and Sirius had fallen asleep, Remus snuck out of Gryffindor Tower, his Christmas presents from Albus Dumbledore tucked under his arm. Careful to be quiet, he tiptoed to the left corridor and saw the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy trying to teach trolls ballet.

Opposite that, Remus turned to look at the bare wall.

" _I really want to help Archie_ ," Remus thought, crossing the wall thrice before the bricks disappeared and led him into the Room of Retirement.

Archie was looking much better than he had when Remus had first seen him. The Hebridean Black's scales were smoother and some of the bloody rips and open wounds were little more than pale scars on dark flesh now. Burned, hot flesh had calmed a bit but was still glowing a furious red. Remus did not dare go near the dragon to rub on the salve. Smoke winded from his nostrils.

"Merry Christmas, Archie," Remus said casually and moved closer to examine him further.

Remus noticed how much bigger the dragon was getting – the first time Remus had seen the dragon, he was slightly bigger than his four poster bed back at Gryffindor tower; now Remus was sure Archie was about the size of his Transfiguration classroom. He knew, of course, how fast dragons grew in size and maturity from his books, but was nevertheless surprised. How much longer until Archie could still fit in the cage, Remus had no idea.

Unfortunately, Remus went nearer and his stomach sank. The dragon seemed to recognise Remus; he flopped onto his back and roared as if calling for food, which gave Remus a good view of the deep, long laceration sliced down his leg. Obviously, Madam Pomfrey had been terrified of the dragon, and had not gone close enough to heal it.

"I would like a dead cow – and that healing potion," Remus said to the Room and his prayers were answered. Both materialised and Remus poured the neon green liquid over the cow so seeped into it and then heaved it into through the cage's bars. The dragon roared in approval and dug into his meal, but Remus knew that the neon green potion was not enough.

Remus sank into one of the hospital beds near the cage and opened up his books and began reading.

"Well, there's Dragon Tonic, but that's only if you're sickly, which you're not…" Remus said.

"Here, Archie, it says Extract of Riggleroot will remove burns quicker … and Murtlap Essence will close your cuts," Remus read from the book. "How do I extract essence from plants?"

A set of instructions materialised in front of him.

And over the next half hour, the Room provided him with cauldrons with fires underneath, a basin full of boiling water, filter funnel and filter paper, many flasks, Murtlap tentacles and Riggleroot flowers. Remus was determined to make the extracts himself rather than ask the Room for it, because he really wanted to improve his potion making.

He sat on the floor next to the two cauldrons filled with boiling water, dropping the Riggleroot petals into the water and stirring it on the other side. The Murtlap tentacles had already dissolved in the cauldron opposite, and had turned some of the water pleasant green. Remus took a flask of it, poured it through a funnel with filter paper inside and slowly but surely, the water remained in the shiny glass and green liquid seeped out into another flask.

Remus had never been good at potions, but smiled at his result.

"Well, now there's the question of how I'm going to give it to you without you killing me," he said. And how he was going to get in the cage close enough to administer the extracts in the first place, for they had to be directly contacted. He was going to need a key, for one.

A silver key appeared in Remus's palm.

"Oh! Well, I guess it'll be helpful if Archie's asleep," Remus said thoughtfully.

A little bottle labelled "Sleeping Draught" landed in Remus's other hand.

Remus did the same with the Sleeping Draught that he usually did with luminescent green potion – he poured it over the cow he was to feed Archie, and then heaved the carcass over to the cage, where Archie consumed it viciously.

Almost immediately, Archie slumped against the ground, asleep.

"OK," Remus said softly, approaching the cage. There was no keyhole.

"There's no keyhole," he told the Room.

Then, there was a keyhole.

Remus entered the key and some of the bars disappeared, enough for Remus to fit through. His breathing quickened, and his heart hammered in his chest; he had never been close to a monster before, if he didn't count himself. The sleeping dragon looked innocent, beautiful, as opposed to his normal savage self. Cautiously, Remus went even closer and kneeled down, taking the corks out of the vials.

The Extract of Riggleroot was thick and creamy and Remus dipped two fingers in it and took it out. He very lightly smeared it over the back of the dragon, the scales rough and bumpy against his fingers. He then did that on one of Archie's legs and wherever else there was a burn mark. When he was satisfied he had covered all of the burnt areas, he put the Riggleroot aside and uncorked the Murtlap Essence.

The Murtlap Essence could not be applied like a cream but instead the injured area would have to be submerged in the brew for a while. Willing the Room to give him a bowl, he poured the green brew into the bowl and with light hands, heaved the dragon's leg up and into the bowl. It was awkward, holding the heavy limb in a bowl, but Remus saw the gradual work of the extract. In front of his eyes, the angry red of the cut was calming into pale pink.

Carefully, he decided to let the dragon's leg down and rest by itself in the bowl and he moved to the front of the dragon. Though the dragon was asleep, Archie's eyelids would flicker open once in a while, revealing brilliant purple. His throat glowed fiery red suddenly and Remus leaned forward to get a closer look–

Fire billowed from Archie's nostrils as he snored and made contact with Remus's hand.

Shouting in pain, Remus clutched at his burned hand and looked down at it, little more than a hunk of dazzling red and black skin. Remus staggered out of the cage, leaving the vials and bowl behind. Shaking, he put the key into the hole again and the bars appeared again.

Remus hissed and was about to get the Riggleroot Extract from the cauldron and spread it all over his hand, when Albus Dumbledore appeared next to him as if he had always been there.

"H-how?" Remus gasped as Dumbledore waved his wand and the blackened flesh instantaneously began remoulding.

"Disillusionment Charm," the Headmaster said simply. "I was making sure you did not get into too much trouble during your visits."

Remus's hand trembled as the red of his hand disappeared, but the incredible heat still ached his whole arm.

"Dragon fire is the strongest," Dumbledore continued calmly. "It seeps into the flesh and roots itself in the blood and spreads through the entire body. It is best to act very quickly when burnt by fire from a dragon's throat."

"It came out of its nostril," Remus said weakly as the pain lessened and then gradually disappeared with Dumbledore's wandwork. To his surprise, smoke burst out of his wound as if a fire had just been put out.

Dumbledore laughed. "That happens too. In any case, fire from a dragon is dangerous and can burn through most things. Except the metal that makes up that enclosure," he said, pointing to the cage in which Archie was still asleep in. "It is made from an ore of my own finding, in the most magical volcano in the world wherein the most legendary dragons are born. It strengthens in heat and breaks in the cold and the sad thing is that if Archimedes had never burned his prison down in his attempt to escape, he would have escaped much quicker.

"You see, Remus, it is the strongest, most powerful people that put themselves in their own traps. The dictators who make their own enemies, the people who intend to change the future instead end up making it, the dragons who try and burn down the cages that can't burn down," said Dumbledore, suddenly serious. "Don't put yourself in your own trap. Do not think that by fixing this dragon, you will somehow fix yourself."

"I don't–"

Dumbledore interrupted him. "You are not damaged, or a damaged person. This dragon is. Do not help and heal it because you believe it will redeem yourself, but because of the goodness and innocence in your heart that leads one child to hold out his hand to a weaker one's. Do not do it for yourself, but for others. Being kind for the sake of being kind rather than the sake of being liked are two very different things."

Remus was affronted. "I never–"

"I know." Dumbledore's wandwork stopped and he stowed it away in his robes. "I was simply warning you. I was …" He hesitated. "I was once in a similar situation, and I utilised my good deeds to gain fame and popularity. I have since humbled."

Dumbledore seemed to be lost in a stupor, but momentarily returned.

"Well," Dumbledore said, clapping his hand on Remus's shoulder. "You have been an amazing boy, shown bravery and chivalry ahead of most adults. You care for a creature feared by most, and you try your best to make its life as comfortable as possible. You have done a brilliant job of caring for it when Madam Pomfrey and I have been afraid and hesitant to do so. But now it is getting very late, and you have done enough work for today. Go back to Gryffindor Tower and sleep."

"Can I still–?"

"–visit Archimedes?" Dumbledore finished. "Yes. But please do not try and get as close as you have done today to the dragon, for I fear for your safety. I will not always be there to remove dragon fire from your skin."

And Remus left the Room and went to Gryffindor Tower, much to the Fat Lady's indignation. He crept up to his bed and sank into the one, where Sirius was snoring gracelessly in the bed beside him.

Remus laughed to himself. "Merry Christmas, Sirius."

* * *

 **A/N:** I feel like I say the words "Remus", "Sirius", "Lily", "he", "said" and "Professor" too much. Also, I'm so sorry I didn't notice this before, but when I write I add asterisks between parts, and when I transfer the document, it just removes the thing altogether so the breaks between parts are really indiscernible, I'm so sorry. I just added the lines instead, if you wanted to reread it to make it clearer to you which parts belonged to which.


	9. Feuds and Bad News

"Thought we were supposed to be friends? Best friends?"  
"We are, Sev."

 _\- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, J.K. Rowling_

* * *

"How," Sirius said, eyeing Remus's glowing wand tip, "in the world are you doing that?"

Remus cast him an annoyed look. "Professor Tacey explained it very clearly on the board."

"When have I ever listened to teachers?"

"You don't have to even listen! You only need to read."

The Christmas holidays had ended a week ago and Remus's blissful times with Sirius were over. Now the teachers were suddenly increasing the amount of homework they were doing. Assessments and projects were now being issued, due at the end of the school year for marking. "The exams aren't until June!" Sirius said loudly during one Transfiguration lesson and earned him a very cold look from Professor McGonagall.

"Oh come on, you don't really think I'm bothered to read that? It's much easier if you explain it to me," Sirius said.

They were meant to be practicing the Wand-Lighting Charm for Defence. Professor Tacey had left instructions and details on the board and had left the classroom, writing that she expected results when she came back.

"Yes, I do, because the exams are important. I don't want to be the person who has to repeat first year."

"You won't be," said Sirius dismissively. "You're the cleverest in our grade. But I'm not, so could you please read it out to me? It's too far away, I'm afraid my eyes will disappear from squinting so much."

"Oh, all right," Remus said and turned his eyes to the board again. "Well you see, the Wand-Lighting Charm is useful in dark places to allow the user to see clearly. A lot of creatures dislike light, and even the most basic light spells can deter them. An example of a dark creature hating the light is the Gytrash, a large, vicious, nocturnal white dog, which flees in the light and dies in the sun."

Sirius was leaning his head on his fist, looking at Remus. "Wow, you're amazing at explaining stuff."

Remus made an annoyed noise. "You weren't even listening to me."

"Yeah, well, I'll just copy your homework."

"No, you aren't," Remus said, swatting his arm lightly. "There is no homework anyway. Now do the spell."

"Oh, all right… _Lumos_!"

Nothing happened.

"You have to do the motion written on the board," Remus told Sirius.

His wand flared white.

"See?" Remus said.

"I'm still copying your homework," Sirius called as Remus walked over to Lily. Said redhead was hunched over a piece of parchment, writing furiously with a small smile on her face.

Remus leaned over to get a closer look at what she was writing.

" _Did my Charms analysis, think we're going to get a project in Transfiguration or Defence soon; might need help for Potions essay_ ," Remus read aloud. "Is that your diary or something?"

Screaming, Lily folded the parchment and shoved it in her robes before whacking Remus several times with her copy of _The Essential Defence Against the Dark Arts_ by Arsenius Jigger.

"Ow – ow, Lily!" Remus said. "I was just reading it!"

"Well, then don't!" Lily said shrilly. "Don't you have any sense of privacy, Remus Lupin? Have you no sense of self-respect?"

"Whoa – Lily, calm down," Remus said, laughing. "I'm sorry for trying to see what you were writing. I promise I won't do it again."

"Yeah, well," Lily said, "did you see anything?"

"Just you writing about finishing homework."

Lily seemed relieved. Then she said, "Where is Potter?"

James, again, was absent from the lesson. The only other thing unusual was Mary McDonald screaming because she lost her glasses or some other.

Remus laughed. "Why are you so obsessed with him? It's not like he's killing or stealing or doing anything that bad. He's just missing some lessons."

"Yeah, well, you never know with Potter," Lily said darkly.

Remus left, looking suspiciously at the parchment peeking out of her robes. What was she hiding so bad?

In Potions, Professor Slughorn surprised them with their project due at the end of the term.

"You shall be brewing Wiggenweld Potion!" Slughorn bellowed and Lily gasped next to Remus, Severus made a disparaging noise and Peter squealed. Remus felt the Acceptable Potions mark slip through his metaphorical fingers. "Yes, yes, I know that Wiggenweld Potion is very difficult for first years, but I know for a fact that this class is a very advanced and clever one!"

Slughorn beamed at Lily, who beamed back, and Severus, who was doubly more talented in Potions than everybody else in the class, sank down even further in his seat, his scowl deepening.

"Sir, what _is_ Wiggenweld Potion?" a Slytherin girl asked.

"Oh dear, it seems you don't remember our long day of notes about it!" Slughorn laughed. "It is a healing potion best for awakening the drinker from magically induced sleeps. Remember, it is a little poisonous, so direct administration to the skin or part of the body in which the magic was performed is better than drinking. I hope you children don't drink it!

"So! Wiggenweld is a nastily difficult potion to perform, which is why I'm giving you so many weeks to do it. There will be many unsuccessful attempts, but as soon as you complete it to what you believe is your best, send it to my office or my desk during class. Everyone should, however, send their potion, whether complete or not, to me by Monday of the second last week of term. I'm afraid I must give you zero marks and detention if you don't!"

Remus's heart sank. Wiggenweld Potion? That was for third years! What was Slughorn thinking? If Remus did splendidly in every other exam, would he be excused for his absolutely horrible Potions mark? Would he still be let in next year? He was already thinking of ways to disappear from the known world. Perhaps the Giant Squid would allow room for Remus to sink into the depths of the Black Lake.

"I'm really sorry for peeking on you at Defence," Remus said honestly.

"It's fine, really, it is," Lily said, smiling.

"Potions, though …" Remus said, a disgusted look on his face.

"Wiggenweld Potion!" Lily said.

"I know, right?" Remus said back.

"It's going to be so–"

"Fun!" Lily said as Remus said, "Horrible!"

"What?" Lily said, sounding shocked. "It's so advanced!"

"Exactly! That's why it's going to be horrible. I can't even brew a Cure for Boils potion."

Lily cast him a look of exasperation. "But it's going to be so fun trying it out. I've never even attempted something like that."

"Bet Severus has. And more."

Lily narrowed her eyes. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Huh?" Remus said. "Just that he's really good at potion-making."

"Okay then."

"Why?"

"Just … Potter has being saying things. That the people Severus talks with aren't very nice."

"Like who?"

"Mulciber. Avery. Malfoy."

Remus widened his eyes. "What? Severus talks with those people? They're horrible, Lily!"

"I know … but Severus is really nice."

"I'm not sure about that. He always says really spiteful stuff."

Lily seemed incensed and her tone reminded Remus of when he defended James from Lily. "Don't say that about Severus. He was my first friend, and my best friend. He's kind to me. He taught me about wizardkind. You know he told me he gave one of his most important recipes to someone, because they were in need of healing? You're just jealous because he's better at potion-making than you, and that you can't make a potion to save your own life, or anybody else's!"

"Wh-What? I'm not!" Remus spluttered. "Lily!"

But she had already stormed off, clutching her books tight to her chest.

"Wow," James said, moving next to Remus and walking at the same pace as him. "I've only ever seen her get that angry at me."

Remus felt numb. He had turned one of his best friends against him. Why did Lily worship the ground Severus stepped on? Remus could never understand.

When Remus didn't reply, James smiled down at Remus and said earnestly, "Don't worry. Seriously. She likes you, she won't stay that angry at you for too long."

Remus decided he liked James. "Yeah, okay. Thanks, James."

"No problem. I know how it feels to be the subject of Evans's anger, but I know she really likes me, inside, if you look really deeply."

Remus laughed with James. Then, a question popped up in his head. "James, can I ask you something?"

"Well, you just did."

"Oh, ha ha," Remus said, looking at him exasperatedly. "No but, seriously, can I?"

"That's two questions."

"James."

"Oh, all right."

"Why are you always missing in lessons?" Remus said. "And how do you still manage to complete homework? How do you sneak out at night with nobody catching you, and yes, I know you do, with Peter almost every night."

James grinned. "Maybe I'll tell you someday."

Remus hesitated. "Is it … illegal?"

"Nah," James said, and Remus knew he wasn't lying. "But, can't I ask you the same questions? Where are you going off to so often? Sirius says it's for your sick mother, but I don't buy that."

Remus thought in silence. "Well, if I don't talk about that thing you do, will you not talk about that thing I do?"

James pondered. "Yeah, okay."

"By the way, Wiggenweld Potion!"

"I know, right?"

"It's going to be terrible."

"Really? I think it's going to be real useful, if Snape ever decides to poison my drink."

And the two boys walked to dinner, talking about ways Severus could kill them and laughing.

* * *

"Remus."

"Shh, Peter, I'm trying to do something."

"Remus."

"Peter!"

"Remus!"

"Oh, what?" Remus said loudly, turning around to look at Peter.

They were in the Potions classroom after class, both of them scrambling to look for a book to help them with their Wiggenweld Potion. Unfortunately, after their falling out, Lily was no longer talking to Remus, and his chance of her helping him was gone. Slughorn had wiggled his finger when they asked for assistance and said they had already written down all the notes and could do it without his help. The only other person he could ask was Severus, who he would rather get trapped in a cage with an unsleeping Archie than ask for help again.

Instead, Remus and Peter had decided to go looking in the Potions classroom to see if they could find any more books that could assist them. So far, they had found none in the bookshelves and cupboards throughout the classroom.

Remus had attempted levitating the books on the top shelf down to the ground, but they were enchanted to be unable to levitate. Now Remus was standing on a stool, attempting to reach for the highest shelf where books about making antidotes were there, while Peter stood as a lookout near the classroom door.

"Someone's coming," Peter whispered.

They weren't strictly allowed in a classroom without teacher supervision, so Remus said a word he would not usually say. He went inside an empty cupboard, pulled Peter in and closed the door.

Breathing heavily, Remus heard two pairs of footsteps make their way into the classroom. Their voices were muffled, so Remus cast _Audecept_ on the cupboard door.

"…might have something here," said the jolly voice of Professor Slughorn and it sounded like he was rifling through another cupboard. "Blood-replenishing … tonic for removing scars … Cure-all Concoction, well that doesn't _really_ cure all … is this enough?"

"Honestly?" said the voice of Professor Sprout, who sounded a little worried. "No, not at all. Albus asked me if you had any more remedies … the injuries the beast has sustained is too much for herbs and spells … even magic can't fix everything."

Remus's heart stopped. Were they talking about Archie?

"I don't really understand how it has gotten all of its injuries," Slughorn said nonchalantly. "How did the beast get all of those?"

"Well … it was always the _runt_ of its family, apparently, and always was scratched and clawed at by its older brothers and sisters … it was quite wild too … now that it's alone, it has nothing to inflict its rage on except for itself … one of its injuries has been infected …"

Slughorn sounded shocked. "Surely there is something that can help its infection?"

"Nothing … somebody clever has tried Murtlap Essence and Extract of Riggleroot … but it still isn't enough … Horace, I think the dragon is going to die."

Remus shook. Archie couldn't die. Not after all the hours Remus talked with the dragon, expecting no reply. Not after all the days Remus had willed the Room of Requirement to give him the things he, and Archie, needed. Not after all the nights Remus spent brewing potions and concoctions to give to the dragon. Not after all the weeks Remus realised he was not only healing the dragon, but also himself.

"Albus will get much criticism if the dragon dies under his care," Slughorn said.

"It is not Albus I fear for. There is a boy who regularly visits the dragon, and I'm afraid of how he will take it … he is already quite damaged …"

But Remus had heard enough. Muttering the counter-charm, he and Peter waited in silence for another five minutes while the two Professors talked. When they finally finished talking, Remus waited another two minutes before leaving the cupboard and the classroom.

He ignored Peter calling his name, and began running up the Grand Staircase, his destination a certain Room of Retirement.


	10. The Room of Redemption

"An apology is the super glue of life. It can repair just about anything."

 _– Lynn Johnston_

* * *

"Why won't you let me in?" Remus said angrily, his fury directed at the wall where the door to the Room of Retirement was meant to appear. He had been walking around there for an hour, thinking up every variation of _I want to help Archie_.

"I want to assist Archimedes. I want to heal Archimedes. I would like to improve the health of my friend," Remus demanded. "I want to fix Archie's injuries. I want to get in the Room!"

The wall would not budge, would not change, and would not open. Perhaps its magic had depleted because Remus had used all of it in his time spent in the Room. But that was impossible.

Maybe Remus was at the wrong place? But Remus had entered and exited the Room more than twenty times this school year; he knew where to go. Had Albus Dumbledore or some other teacher enchanted the doors so they would never open? But why would they do that?

The only possible reason was that the Room was not letting him in. Was there someone else already in the Room, so it would not let him go inside? Did the Room believe he did not truly want to go inside, to help his friend?

"I _do_ want to see my friend!" Remus said to the wall, walking thrice and achieving nothing. Frustrated, he kicked the wall and made his foot hurt.

"Now will you let me in?" Remus said. "I hurt my foot. I would like to heal it."

The wall did not answer.

"Please!" Remus said. "That's the magic word, right? Please let me in."

More silence followed.

"I really want to see my friend," Remus shouted firmly. "I really do."

And to his surprise, words appeared on the wall slowly, as if somebody invisible were carving them onto it. In cursive, curly writing, it read: _Want is different from Need_.

"Fine!" Remus yelled. "I _need_ to get in that Room. I _need_ to see my friend before he dies. I _need_ to help Archie!"

The wall remained as stoic as ever, the words disappearing.

Remus swore. "Fine. I'm coming back tomorrow."

And he stormed off. At breakfast the next morning, he must have seemed grumpier than usual, because Sirius voiced his concerns.

"Are you okay?" Sirius said.

"I'm fine," Remus snapped and earned him a frown from Sirius.

"Just asking."

He was late to Charms because he was trying to get into the Room of Requirement again to no avail. He earned himself a very shocked look and his first ever detention from Professor Flitwick who seemed very surprised about his star pupil's tardiness.

Truly, at the end of the lesson Remus had failed to create even a spark of fire when casting the Fire-Making Spell, too preoccupied with thinking of ways and got himself a talking to from Professor Flitwick, who pulled him aside at the end of the lesson.

"Mr Lupin…" Professor Flitwick said, and it was very strange to be reprimanded by someone who only reached his shoulders. "Your work has been deteriorating this lesson. Is there something going on?"

"No," Remus lied. "I'm fine."

"If there is anything, please tell me," the little man said.

"Sure," Remus said, though he had no intention to do so, and left the classroom.

During History of Magic, Remus was so irritated by James and Lily's bickering that he lost his self-control and told them both to shut up and that nobody liked it when they argued.

"What?" Remus said to disbelieving faces. "It's true."

In Potions, both Remus and Lily refused to look at each other and Severus had to sit in between them instead. They were to brew a Herbicide Potion.

"Professor Sprout has told me there are some Walking Weeds strangling her plants, and she would like us to help her remove them," Professor Slughorn said and Remus, remembering the conversation between the two teachers, muttered, "Yeah, Professor Sprout has told you other things too."

"Begin!" Slughorn said.

At the end of the lesson, Slughorn moved around the classroom to inspect everybody's cauldrons. He raised his eyebrows at Peter's, sent amused looks at Sirius's and James's, almost ignored Severus's and mispronounced his name, beamed at Lily's and cast a disappointed look. Remus hadn't even put the right ingredients.

He was jubilant when lessons ended for the day because that meant free time. He rushed off to the Seventh Floor to the left corridor and proceeded to do the same as he had this morning and yesterday night, requesting, pleading, shouting, kicking and screaming.

"Please!" Remus said desperately. "I need to get in there to see my friend."

His call was unanswered.

"Oh, fine," Remus said and opened up his Charms textbook from his bag. His finger traced the pages until he reached the one he was looking for.

" _Alohomora_ ," he said, even though there was no door. Nothing became unlocked.

" _Reducto_ ," he said, standing back, and an explosion burst from his wand. For a fleeting, hopeful moment, Remus thought he saw through mist and dust an empty doorway, but the wall remained as solid as ever.

Remus hesitated to use the other spells. They were much more advanced than a first year could do, curses of destruction and demolition, but he attempted them anyway. " _Expulso_ ," produced nothing but blue light and " _Confringo_ ," knocked him back and made him hit the wall behind him.

"Well …" Remus said grimly, "I guess I need some healing for myself now. Can I please go on right now?"

The wall said nothing, but Remus knew the answer was no.

Frustrated, he threw the wand down onto the floor and sat down, glaring at the wall.

"I want to throttle your hypothetical neck," Remus said. "Do you think you'll find a room I can do that?"

Finally, Remus left, glaring at the blank wall.

"Why are you awake at this hour?" the portrait of the Fat Lady asked when Remus approached her. She looked like Remus had woken her up.

" _Donnybrook_." Remus said the password resignedly

"I could tell the teachers, you know!"

" _Donnybrook_."

"Professor McGonagall won't be happy – and I'm not happy that you woke me up!"

" _Donnybrook_!" Remus said firmly.

"Oh, all right."

Remus walked quietly into the Gryffindor first year dormitory for boys and, without changing into his pyjamas, curled up into bed and stared at the top of the four-poster.

"Where were you?" Sirius whispered in the bed next to him.

Something about not being let into the Room of Requirement and the Fat Lady's annoying chatter made Remus snappish. "Is it your business?"

"Yeah," Sirius said. "I'm your friend, of course it is."

That softened him. Then: "How do you know?"

"Know what?"

"That I'm your friend. How do you know?"

Sirius sounded like he was smiling. "Well, first of all, you've asked me if I'm your friend about a dozen times–"

"Twice–"

"You laugh at all my jokes–"

"Only the funny ones–"

"Like I said, all of them. You always smile at me when you think I'm not looking–"

"I don't!"

"You totally do," Sirius said, laughing breathily. "And I know that you're my friend because I wouldn't have it any other way."

Remus smiled and turned his body around so he could see Sirius grinning back at him. "Yeah, okay then."

Silence. Then: "And you totally look at me so much, like you're going to eat me or something."

"That's terrible!" Remus laughed. "I really hope I don't."

"Oh, and sometimes, you do this really serious look like I killed your parents–"

And that night, Remus giggled himself to sleep.

But the next morning, his ill temper returned. He woke up early to camp outside the entrance to the Room of Requirement. Aloud and in his head, he said every variation of _I want to help Archie_ , _I need to get into that Room_ and _You're stupid_ to the Room, walking along the wall so many times that Remus's feet hurt. He was finally forced to move away from the Seventh Floor when classes began. His bad mood that had dissipated from last night had returned in full fury.

He spent a terrible Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson in the musky classroom, squinting at the small, shaky writing of the ever-silent Professor Tacey.

"Miss?" Lily said to the wordless teacher. Remus and her still weren't speaking, and he was sure she was still furious about his comment about Severus and also his criticism about her constant fighting with James. "The next chapter is Banshees, not Doxies."

But Professor Tacey's whole body shook at Lily's comment, and she refused to write anything about Banshees or answer any questions about them.

"She must have had a bad experience with them before," Remus heard Mary whisper to Marlene. "Someone told me she was a dark creature catcher when she was younger."

Remus did not care about Banshees or Doxies or anything Professor Tacey had to say, and his anger boiled within him for half an hour before they moved onto the practical part of the lesson.

Professor Tacey wrote on the board the essentials of the Smokescreen Spell and the incantation.

" _Fumos_ ," James said, and a yellow light sparked from his wand before smoke began to fill the room. Non-verbally, Professor Tacey swished her wand and cast a spell, removing all the smoke from the room. She sent James a rare, approving smile.

The praise and encouragement Peter gave James was so annoying to Remus that he promptly snapped and told Peter how irritating everybody found his sycophantic nature and squeaky flattery. Peter immediately burst into tears.

"Don't talk to Peter like that," James said furiously as he led Peter away, and Remus was reminded once more of how Remus had defended James and Lily had defended Severus.

Everybody shot Remus looks of mingled fear, anger and dislike. Remus found that he felt very sorry about the sudden outburst to Peter, who was small, kind and laughed a lot.

But there were more pressing matters. Somebody was dying.

After the classes were finished for the day, Remus rushed to the Room of Requirement. Remus walked up and down, thinking and saying every form of the phrase, " _I need to see my friend_."

Much to his expectation, the wall remained still, stoic, but it seemed to Remus that the wall was almost laughing at him. Remus's fury bubbled up inside him and he kicked the wall like he did two days ago. Crying from frustration, Remus leaned against the wall and hung his head.

"Take me where I need to go," Remus said haggardly.

And to his utter shock, the wall materialised and opened up into a room that was obscured in darkness.

Remus gasped, and then stepped foot into the room – only to be thrust out by some invisible, magical force. He hit the floor, resonating with pain.

Undeterred, Remus leaped up from the floor and ran into the room again and then was blasted was out off the Room again. This happened twice more before Remus groaned because of the aching in his back.

The Room wasn't letting him in where he needed to go! It was just sending him back to the same place, when he had said he had been in need of it taking him where he need to go. Unless … he was already there.

And then it hit him. He had been so harsh, so cruel over the last few days, so obsessed about Archie's welfare that he disregarded everyone else's. The Room had been helping him all this time. He _wanted_ to help Archie, but what he _needed_ was to help himself first, to sort out the crumbling relationships around him. The Room had written _Want is different from Need_ to tell Remus that helping Archie would not help Remus right now. The Room had given him health potions, dead cows, cauldrons, boiling water, keys, Sleeping Draught, but Remus was most thankful of this lesson that the Room had given him.

Ashamed, guilty and remorseful, Remus started planning out what he would do.

The next morning, Peter received a box of his favourite sugar mice, bars of chocolate and a very long apology letter assuring Peter he was not an obsequious sycophant or a power mongering rat and that he was a great human being and none of the things Remus had said that day during Defence were true.

Remus went to talk to James personally, saying earnestly how sorry he was about calling James an attention-seeking git and how James was a very kind person. James had replied good-naturedly and said that he held none of that against Remus, and he had obviously been in a very bad situation at the time.

His apology to Lily was quite awkward at first. He cornered her after Potions and as soon as Severus had left the classroom, a scowl on his face, they embraced.

"I'm sorry–" Remus choked.

"I know, me too–"

"I didn't meant to say that about Severus–"

"I know, and I didn't mean to say that about you, you're not bad at Potions at all, and I know you'd never be jealous–"

"It's been the worst few days of my lives," Remus said, "talking only to James and Sirius, I had no idea how much I needed brains like you to enjoy a normal life–"

Lily laughed tearfully. "Severus can be a bit boring sometimes too–"

"I really missed you–"

"I missed you more–"

"I missed you most."

They hugged even tighter, Lily's face digging into his neck. They stayed like that for a few more minutes, talking to each other quietly before leaving the classroom, elbows hooked together with a smile on both of their faces.

They chatted over dinner, before Remus noticed an empty seat next to him. "Where's Sirius?" he asked James.

"At detention with Professor McGonagall."

Remus hurried off to Professor McGonagall's office. Breathless, he opened the door, where both the professor and Sirius, who was sitting in a chair at the front of the classroom, turned to look at him, surprised.

"Mr Lupin – do you require something?" McGonagall said, sounding affronted.

Remus ignored her and moved to Sirius, who stood up, and his arms were around Sirius's shoulders and Sirius's were around his and both of them were laughing.

"Remus," Sirius laughed. "Why are you here?"

"Because you're my friend," Remus said breathily.

"How do you know?" Sirius teased, echoing Remus the night before.

"I hate you," Remus said, burying his face in Sirius's shoulder.

"I love you too."

"Boys!" Professor McGonagall said. "This is a very _sweet_ display of affection, but may I remind you that Mr Black is in detention right now, and you will be too, Mr Lupin, if you do not leave at once!"

And Remus left the office, but not before he had grinned at Sirius, and Sirius grinned back at him.


	11. The Dying Dragon

"You are quite wrong. Indeed, your failure to understand there are much worse things than death has always been your weakness."

 _\- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, J.K. Rowling_

* * *

Professor Sprout had been right; Archie was dying.

Remus had finally gotten into the Room. After he had surprised Professor McGonagall and Sirius with hugging the latter during detention, he had ran up the Grand Staircase. The Room of Requirement had opened its doors for Remus even before he had thought up what he had required, and he staggered into the Room.

The dragon had grown immensely. His tail was now longer than Remus, and his head was about the size of Professor Flitwick. In a few months, Remus doubted Archie could still fit his cage.

"Hey, Archie," Remus said softly, approaching the cage. The dragon was lying on its back, his arms slack and his head lolled to the side. A nasty incision green and disgusting with infection ran down the middle of his purple underbelly. The only thing that told Remus it was alive was the rumbling sound coming from its throat, and the smoke billowing in spirals from its nostrils.

The dragon looked at him with some recognition and rumbled. Remus wondered what he was saying, if he was saying anything. Maybe: "I know you, you're the boy who constantly visits me," or "You're the one who gives me food," or "Are you lunch?"

Perhaps the dragon knew him from that little kid who always spoke to him and read in the Room with him. Perhaps Archie recognised him as the one that gave him so many dead animals to eat. Perhaps Archie didn't know him at all.

But Remus knew Archie as the dragon who used to get so furious, used to break out into tantrums and attempt to burn the whole place down. Remus knew Archie as the dragon who happily devoured all the food Remus gave him. Remus knew Archie as the dragon he had tried so hard to keep alive, and the dragon who was now dying.

Remus needed help. As soon as the thought entered his head, a bottle labelled Dragon Tonic landed in his hand.

Remus tried the old tactic of pouring the drink on the carcass of an animal and letting Archie devour the whole thing. But the dragon was unmoving, unenthusiastic and still.

"Eat it," Remus said. "It's your favourite. Dead cow. Yum."

The dragon did not make any move to eat it.

Remus supposed the Room provided water for the dragon when Remus wasn't here. Did dragons even drink water? Remus would have to research about that. But right now, there was no way for Remus to safely administer the potion.

So, he said loudly to the Room: "I need a key again."

A silvery key popped into existence and fell into his palm.

The keyhole on the cage was still there, and Remus inserted the key. Bars shimmered out of existence. He set the key on a table that materialised beside him.

Unlike the last time Remus had gone into the cage, Remus was not afraid. The last time, he had been frightened for his safety, but now was the time to be frightened for Archie's. Remus, feet steady and jaw set, approached the motionless dragon.

"I'll need more Dragon Tonic," Remus said. A flagon of the potion appeared in his hand. He neared the Hebridean Black, but it did not make any movement to show that it knew, or cared, that Remus was close.

"Open your mouth," Remus told the dragon. He did not.

"Fine. Gloves. Really thick ones," Remus said and they appeared, floating mid-air. He set down the flagon and put on the gloves, which were so huge and long that they reached his elbows.

He picked the flagon up with one hand, and with another he gingerly reached out for the dragon's mouth. To his comfort, the dragon did not once make a move to spurt fire or smoke or thrash about uncontrollably. His relief was short-lived however, for the searing heat of Archie's maw, from previous fire breathing or because a dragon naturally had a scorching muzzle, Remus didn't know.

As soon as the glove had touched the dragon's jaws and wrenched them open, the hotness penetrated the thickness of the gloves and Remus felt pain shoot up his arm. Trying to ignore it, he wrenched the mouth even further open and poured the whole contents of the flagon into the dragon's mouth.

Archie began to choke from the suddenness of the drink, so Remus stood back. Fortunately, the dragon calmed and returned to its unmoving state. The immediate danger was gone, so Remus tore his left glove off and inspected the aching hand. He breathed a sigh of relief; the hand looked nothing like it had the last time Remus had visited. It was slightly redder, but not blackened or incandescent crimson like it had been before.

Remus supposed that was enough potions for today. He left the cage and observed the dragon. Archie still looked very sickly, and once again Remus said that he was in need of anything that would keep Archie alive.

Books fell from the ceiling and landed next to him, volumes of spells and enchantments and magical artefacts. Remus did not know how to thank a Room properly, but smiled at the walls like an old friend.

"You know me too well," Remus said, and began reading.

He ignored vague texts about Horcruxes or some other, but through the imprecise descriptions, only humans could have them. He read about unicorn blood, but refused to do so. He knew what came about slaying an innocent creature, and drinking its blood. Remus wanted Archie to live a life, but not a half-life.

The Philosopher's Stone's Elixir of Life was for humans only too. Remus had no idea how to acquire a phoenix, or how to make it cry. He tried asking the Room for both of these things, though it did not provide.

That left something called the sacrificial protection.

"Here, Archie," Remus said and began reading. " _The sacrificial protection is an ancient, powerful and long-lasting charm. When somebody willingly, out of deep and pure love, gives his or her life for another, this protection is endowed. The charm is so strong that the one murdering the one who dies cannot harm the one with the protection_."

Remus hesitated. He was only eleven, but he knew what the text was saying. He would have to give his life for Archie willingly if Archie was to live, if they went that path.

"Let's look for something else," he mumbled.

He found nothing else of prolonging life, only of healing magic and potions that he had already attempted. Maybe he could ask Dumbledore for help, but then he realised that Dumbledore and all the other teachers had probably already tried all of this and he was just wasting his time.

Frustrated, Remus threw all his books down. This week had been disappointment after disappointment.

During class, James muttered to Remus, "You look like you aren't in a very good mood again. Are you going to call me an attention-seeking git again?"

Remus threw him a look of disdain. "Very funny. Hysterical. You're a right laugh, you know."

"What happened?"

Remus hesitated. It couldn't hurt to be at least a bit truthful. "Somebody I know is really ill."

"Your sick mum?"

"Uh, yeah," Remus lied.

"Wow, I used to not believe you about that," James said. "I'm really sorry for not. I hope she gets better really soon."

"Me too," Remus said honestly and sighed sadly.

During Transfiguration, they were to be transforming objects into living things now, as before they had been transforming living things into objects.

Professor McGonagall said it was much harder, though she smiled widely when Lily said, " _Avifors_ ," to her quill and transformed it into a chirping, yellow bird.

"Thank you, Professor," Lily said brightly.

"Sometimes I wish I could _Avifors_ Evans's mouth," James muttered to Remus, who laughed. "It'd chirp much less than she usually does."

"I heard that!" Lily said without looking at them.

Remus grinned. His mood improved considerably throughout the day.

In Defence Against the Dark Arts, Professor Tacey still resolutely ignored the chapter about banshees and instead they moved onto Gytrashes.

Today, Professor Tacey wrote questions on the board. Remus wondered how Professor Tacey awarded house points, if she couldn't talk, and if she ever did.

"What colour are Gytrashes?" Professor Tacey wrote.

Lily raised her hand. "White, but Professor–"

The Professor waved her question away dismissively with one hand.

"Someone tell me the charm to hold Gytrashes at bay," the mute old lady wrote on the board.

Lily answered again. " _Lumos_ , but Professor, we skipped–"

In the middle of Professor Tacey writing on the board, Lily said loudly, "We were meant to do banshees two chapters ago. Why do you keep avoiding it?"

The teacher stared at Lily for about thirty seconds before conjuring up something with her wand. A slip reading " _Detention_ " and the time and place of the punishment was handed to Lily's shaking hand.

Behind Remus, he heard James hoot triumphantly. "That'll put her in her place – she's never gotten a detention before."

Lily stared at the detention slip for the rest of the lesson and raised her hand no more.

When they were walking to lunch, Remus said to the silent Lily, "Lily, it's just a detention, James and Sirius have had loads, don't worry, your record won't be tarnished–"

But Lily interrupted him and stood in front of the Great Hall doorway. "She's hiding something. That Tacey woman, she's got a secret, she's dealt with banshees illegally before, or murdered one without proper reasoning, or _is_ one–"

Remus groaned. "Lily! This is just like James and his absences in class. He's just a troublemaking kid, and Tacey is just an old lady who had a bad experience with dark creatures before. You're just angry because both of them showed you up, like, once."

"I'm not," Lily said firmly. "She – and Potter. They both have something they're hiding. And I'm going to find out what they are."

"Lily," Remus said. "Even if they do, is it any of your business?"

Lily hesitated. Then: "If it's illegal…"

Remus threw his hands up in defeat. "Okay, you go do whatever you want. Good luck on finding out, if you ever do."

"I will," Lily said, crossing her arms. "You'll eat your words later."

"But first, can we eat lunch?" Remus said. "You're standing in the doorway."

Lily grumbled something, but they made their way to the Gryffindor table anyway.

A lot of the Gryffindors, including Sirius, James and Peter – and Remus almost laughed aloud – the dragon held in the school.

"I haven't heard of it since the start of the year," said a fifth-year.

"I did," said another, much to laughs of derision. "I did! I heard it near the dungeons during Remedial Potions, the roaring of it and I felt it go all hot as it breathed fire. I didn't see it though."

"Stop fibbing, Belby," a seventh-year said, chuckling. "Everybody knows they'd put it in the Forbidden Forest."

"What, so it could burn down half the trees? Yeah, Dumbledore would be that dumb," a sarcastic third-year said.

"I heard it can't even breathe fire!"

There was much chatter and arguing about the dragon and Remus tried to keep a straight face.

"Why the sudden talk about dragons?" Remus asked Sirius.

"Because Peter over here," Sirius said, pointing at the little boy, "overheard a conversation between Sprout and Slughorn about a dragon dying. Says you were there too. What was it like?"

"Uh …" Remus said, suddenly not feeling the urge to laugh anymore. "I don't remember it that much."

"Ah, well," Sirius said, looking disappointed. "'Least we know that there _is_ a dragon in the school, right?"

"Yeah, I wasn't sure until just now…" Remus said distractedly.

"Wish we could see a dragon," James said wistfully. "The only other creature that's half as interesting is Hagrid's animals, which he won't let us near, and that phoenix Dumbledore keeps cooped up in his office all day."

That perked his interest. Phoenix meant phoenix tears, which meant living Archie. "Dumbledore has a phoenix? How do you know?"

"I had to go to his office for a talking to once," James admitted. "Hey, where are you going?"

But Remus was already off. The Headmaster's office was on the second floor, he knew, so he raced up the staircase. Dumbledore would be willing to help him and Archie, right?

He only had an inkling of where it was. He went around a corner and then he stepped in front of an extremely ugly stone gargoyle. Nothing else struck him as interesting on this floor.

"Is this Dumbledore's office?" Remus wondered aloud.

"Yeah," the stone gargoyle said, springing to life. Remus jumped. "What's it to you?"

"I need to see him," Remus said, hoping he sounded confident rather than unnerved by the statue.

" _I need to see him_ ," the gargoyle mimicked in a high voice. "You suppose what you have to say is more important than whatever he's doing?"

"Yeah, I suppose it is."

"Listen here, kid–"

"That will be enough, guardian gargoyle," Dumbledore's voice said kindly.

The wall behind the gargoyle had split in half. The statue leapt aside and Dumbledore stepped out a bit to usher Remus inside.

"Come, Remus," Dumbledore said and Remus hurried to step into the place behind the walls with the old man. The walls slammed shut as Remus realised they were on a spiral staircase, moving smoothly upwards. At last, after moving in circles again and again and leaving Remus dizzy and disorientated, he saw a gleaming oak door.

Dumbledore flicked his wand and the door opened. The office was a circular, aesthetic room, full of funny, strange little things. Silver instruments rang and puffed smoke while odd wooden items squeaked and whirred on spindle-legged desks. Portraits of past headmasters and headmistresses hung on the walls, most sleeping quietly in their frames, but some eyeing the pair thoughtfully. Some bid good day to the Professor while others looked at him with disdain. "The werewolf," one snide Headmaster in Slytherin green robes sneered. "What you were thinking, Albus, I have no idea." A large claw-footed desk sat in the centre of the room and the Sorting Hat that had put him in Gryffindor sat on a shelf behind it.

A golden perch behind the door was empty and Remus, excited, thought that this was where the phoenix was usually.

"So, Remus," Dumbledore said, sitting at his desk. "I assume you want to talk about something."

"Sir …" Remus said, hesitating. "You know that Archie – I mean, Archimedes is in really poor health right now. It's dying."

"Yes, I do know that," Dumbledore said serenely.

"And I've heard that you have a phoenix as your pet …"

"Yes, Fawkes."

Remus rubbed the back of his neck like a Bludger from that game James adored had just hit it. "And I read in a book that–"

"–that phoenix tears heal serious wounds," Dumbledore finished for him. "And you would like Fawkes to shed tears to heal Archimedes."

Remus realised how selfish he was sounding. He was expecting this man who had let him in school even with his ailment to now do something else for him, to let his prize pet shed its precious tears for some silly first-year boy's own animal. Remus himself almost cried at how pathetic he was. "Sort of."

"You're a very clever boy, Remus," Dumbledore said. "And observant too. Tell me, what do you observe about this room?"

"That your phoenix isn't here," Remus said, disappointed.

"Exactly," Dumbledore said, nodding. "Fawkes is not here. Tell me, have you heard of a man called Voldemort?"

Remus nodded his head. "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. The one who started the war."

"The very same. You will know, then, that he has recruited the beings and creatures that the wizarding community has long cast away, giants and werewolves, into his army of dark wizards? You will know that he hates Muggles and Muggleborn wizards and witches, much like your friend Lily Evans. You will know he plans to overthrow the Ministry of Magic and rule as the Dark Lord."

Remus gulped and nodded.

"You see Remus," Dumbledore said kindly. "Phoenixes can do so much more than heal wounds. They are strong creatures, their feathers can be used in wands and they can fly long distances. Voldemort has many followers, and I hope to combat them with my own band of strong wizards and witches. I have sent Fawkes to recruit as many willing, capable people as possible. It is meant to be a secret Remus, so please do not reveal any of this information to anybody else. That is why Fawkes is not here, in my office right now, as he is delivering several messages around the country and the continent. I apologise, Remus."

Remus looked at his feet, disappointment curdling inside his chest. He knew that fighting the war was much more important than the needs of a little eleven year old, but he couldn't help but feel let down.

Dumbledore seemed to see this too. "Say, Remus, what should I name this secret society of mine? Alastor Moody seems to think 'Dumbledore's Army' is appropriate, though it reminds me too much of Voldemort's army. I seem to think Order of the Good would be suitable. What say you?"

"Well," Remus said, smiling shyly, "Fawkes is the one rounding up all the members, you said? I think it'd be only right if it were named after him … like the Order of the Phoenix, or something."

Dumbledore beamed at him. "That is a very apt name. Thank you, Remus."

"No worries, sir."

"Well, Remus, I apologise again for not having Fawkes here. I'm afraid he'll be away for a few more weeks, but I hope he will be back in time to help Archimedes," Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling. "Have a good day, Remus."

"You too, Professor."

And he left the office, feeling a little bit better about his and Archie's predicament.


	12. Severus's Recipe

"...posters saying things like: A CLEAN CAULDRON KEEPS POTIONS FROM BECOMING POISONS..."

 _\- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, J.K. Rowling_

* * *

"Remus," Sirius said.

"Yes?" Remus said, engrossed in his book. Dinner had ended shortly before, and he had not eaten much. He was reading up Severing Spells so he could write his Charms essay, which was due very soon. The amount of reports and written things the first years had to do was piling up so much that even Lily was annoyed. James had suggested revolting against the teachers and then Lily had suggested he jump off the Astronomy Tower.

"Why do you always read?"

"Why do you _never_ read?"

Sirius made a noise. "What do you mean? I read a lot."

"Yeah, a lot of notes you trade with James in class."

Sirius smiled. "We're that obvious? I wish we could have a better form of communication…"

"You could ask Lily," Remus said mildly. "She probably knows a way to talk during class. I mean, I swear she has some sort of contact with Severus, but I have no idea how."

Sirius made a face at Severus's name. "I'd rather swim with the Giant Squid than ask Evans something. She always talks with that know-it-all voice. And that Snape kid … he's horrible. His friends turned Mary McDonald's pigtails into actual pig tails, you know that?"

Remus was not very interested in hearing Sirius badmouth Severus, like Remus always heard Severus about James during Potions. He continued reading and practiced the wand movement.

"Remus," Sirius said.

"What, Sirius?" Remus said exasperatedly.

"It's Valentine's Day."

"OK," Remus said, his eyes still on his book. "So what?"

"So, I'm bored! And today, the teachers are lenient, so we can get away with stuff."

"You can finish your essay with me," Remus told him.

Sirius gave him a look of disgust. "Who wants to write essays?"

"Um, me? That's why I'm doing it now."

"Please, Remus?"

Remus raised his eyebrows. "What do you want to do then?"

"In the kitchens, house-elves are there and they provide food when students go down there. So…" Sirius sent him a grin. "Want to go?"

"Not particularly."

"Remus!"

"Why don't you go with James?" Remus said shortly.

Sirius sighed dramatically. "He has this mad idea that he fancies Evans now, and he's trying to woo her with his masculine charm."

Remus gave a bark of laughter. "What? James like Lily? The world is ending."

"I know, right?" Sirius said and reached his hand out to see what Remus was reading, and Remus slapped his hand away. "So can you come?"

Remus gave him a look of disdain. Sirius Black had ways of persuading him to do things he normally never would do. "Oh, all right, but not for longer than an hour."

Delighted, Sirius grabbed Remus's hand, and together, laughing and elbowing each other, ran down the Grand Staircase, all the way to the Great Hall. Then they raced down a staircase into a dark corridor. When they reached a corridor, Sirius ushered Remus to a painting of a pear. To Remus's surprise, Sirius reached out and tickled the pear, it squirmed, then laughed, and then finally transformed into a doorknob.

Sirius wrenched it open and Remus saw an enormous, high-ceilinged room the same size as the Great Hall above it. Five tables in the same position as the ones in the actual Great Hall stood. There were large quantities of glittering brass pots and pans heaped around the stone walls. Counter-tops and stoves surrounded the room. A large, brick fireplace lay at the other end of the kitchen. At least a hundred little house-elves were standing around the kitchen, smiling and bowing at Sirius and Remus.

"Hey," Sirius said to the house-elves. They all looked at Sirius like they recognised him.

"Hello, Mr Black!" they all squeaked back at him. "Would Mr Sirius Black and his friend like some tea?"

"Definitely," Sirius said as they moved to sit on a stool next to a fireplace.

"So I'm just Mr Sirius Black's friend, huh?" Remus said out of the corner of his mouth, raising his eyebrows.

"You certainly are," Sirius replied and then at least six house-elves walked their way with a silver tray, laden with two cups of tea, jugs of milk, and a plate of cookies.

"Thank you," Remus said kindly to the house-elves and they smiled back.

"You've been here before?" Remus whispered to Sirius while he shoved cookies into his mouth. "And keep your mouth closed while you're chewing."

"'Course," Sirius said, showing no regard for Remus's second comment. "I've been here so many times with James during History of Magic."

"You eat like a dog," Remus said disdainfully, sipping his tea gracefully while Sirius slurped it down. "And that's where you're going during lessons! How do you do it?"

"We don't _only_ go to the kitchens, sometimes we go to the Black Lake and play with the Giant Squid, and sometimes James goes by himself to God knows where. Sometimes James doesn't even leave the classroom, and plays jokes on people," Sirius said, laughing. "And he gets around because he has–"

But at that moment, the house-elves returned with even more plates. Roast chicken, vegetables, mashed potatoes, chips, pork chops and gravy were lifted in big plates and bowls and two-dozen elves hauled up a small table, Remus helping them, and placed it between the two boys to place down all the food.

"You eat so slowly," Sirius said, who had devoured most of the meat and left Remus to eat the vegetables.

"Just because you don't chew your food," Remus said.

"I bet," Sirius said slowly, grinning, "that I can eat this bowl of chips before you can eat yours."

"Oh yeah?" Remus said, the playfulness of the day getting to him. "I bet you can't."

And they both began devouring the potato strips, Remus wolfing down his portion and finishing it a minute before Sirius did. Remus's hands were greasy and his head plastered with sweat, but he had never felt happier or laughed harder.

"I had no idea," Sirius said, barking with laughter, "that you could let yourself go."

"I don't know," said Remus. "I think it's just the wildness in you that brings out mine."

"Oh, don't start with all your fancy language, we haven't even had dessert yet."

After they had finished their ice creams, apple pies, tarts and fruit, they expressed their immense gratitude to the house-elves and bid goodbye. They walked together, back to Gryffindor Tower, but with none of the speed and giddiness that they had done running down to the kitchens.

"Thanks," Remus said. "For taking me there. I really enjoyed it."

Sirius smiled his small smile. "Yeah, no problem. I hope you did."

They reached the Seventh Floor where several grumpy dwarves holding love hearts were arranged in a messy fashion. Remus caught a glimpse of the left corridor and his face fell. He remembered his last visit to Archie yesterday; the dragon's health was not improving and was worsening with each coming week.

Sirius noticed. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Remus said quickly.

"Come on," Sirius said, stopping Remus outside before they reached the Fat Lady's portrait. "Something's bothering you."

Remus hesitated. "Someone I know is going to die."

"What can I do to help?"

Remus gave a shaky laugh. "Nothing."

"You sure?" Sirius said immediately. "I have a lot of money. I mean, my family does."

"Money can't mend this," Remus said, smiling sadly.

"Magic, then. Evans could help – or even the teachers."

"That can't fix everything either."

Sirius bit his lip. "Is it someone close?"

"Yeah."

Sirius squeezed Remus's hand. "You all right?"

Of course he wasn't. "Yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry about it. It's not big of a deal."

"Remus, I–"

But Remus never found out what Sirius was going to say, as Sirius tripped over one of the heart-bearing dwarves and fell to the floor. Remus burst into laughter and leaned down to pull Sirius up.

"Stupid dwarves…" Sirius said, dusting himself off. "Look, I got a cut on my knee from that."

"Oh, we may have to amputate it."

"It _is_ bleeding…"

"Ooh, I can fix that, come with me," Remus said as they reached the Fat Lady's portrait. " _Ailhotsy_ ," he said to the Fat Lady who swung the door open for them.

In his spare time when he couldn't or didn't want to visit Archie or do homework, he had brewed the potion with Severus's instructions that was supposedly a drink for healing cuts. It had been immensely difficult making, the strangest ingredients needed, the oddest times required and the longest lengths having to put it outside in the moon's light, for a month. Remus despised the moon.

He had finally finished it a week before, a thick, dark green cream poured slowly into a vial should Remus ever need it. He was sure he had made it properly.

"Here, made it myself," Remus said, and he poured globs onto his hand before rubbing it softly onto Sirius's knee.

"That feels nice," Sirius said, sighing. And then he yelled out in excruciating pain as fire-red boils and pimples burst into life onto his skin.

* * *

"Well …" Lily said, looking at the recipe Severus had given Remus. "It's definitely a healing potion."

"See!" Severus demanded. "I gave him a proper potion!"

"But …" Lily said slowly. "It's not definitely meant for first-years. It's a very complex potion; it doesn't look like it's for anybody younger than a seventh-year."

"So!" James yelled back, face red with anger. "You gave it to Remus knowing full well that he would not be able to brew it properly! That's disgusting!"

"Quiet down," Madam Pomfrey, who was attending to Sirius, hissed at them. "You're disturbing the patient that you're meant to be visiting."

They were in the Hospital Wing, all six of them – Sirius in his hospital bed, covered in many blankets, Remus, James and Peter around Sirius's bed and Lily and Severus both looking like they didn't want to be there, further away. Lily was only here for Remus, and Severus only for Lily. Remus had given Lily the instructions Severus had given him, to inspect.

"It is not my fault," Severus sneered, "that Lupin cannot brew anything properly. I am not to blame for his ineptitude. I tried to help him, and he could not help himself."

Remus looked at his feet in shame.

James made an angry noise. "How dare you? You _know_ Remus isn't confident with potions. If you wanted to help him at all, you would've brewed it yourself!"

Peter was nose-deep into a book of advanced potion recipes, and then he said. "Aha! Here it is!

" _Cure-All-Cuts Cream_ ," Peter read aloud, " _is a very difficult potion to create, for the ingredients must be inspected closely before actual brewing to begin. Flier-wing flies must not be confused with Fire-wing flies and Silkflower petals must be planted on the full moon of May_. What the heck? Even Slughorn would be confused by this."

"No, he wouldn't," Severus said. "Just because all of you are incompetent at potions, doesn't mean everybody else is."

Peter ignored him. He snatched the instructions, compared it with the one in the book and made a strangled noise. "The instructions are quite different. You gave him a really incorrect recipe!"

Remus looked up. Severus had given him a flawed potion?

"Then it was an accident!" Lily said. "Severus wouldn't do that."

James glared. "What do you mean? Do you know what he and his friends did to that Ravenclaw boy?"

"That was an accident! And Severus wasn't even a part of that."

"I could smell his greasy hair a mile away," James said.

"Shh!" Madam Pomfrey hissed as she left to go to the storeroom, presumably for more pastes and potions.

Lily glowered. "Come on, Severus, we're leaving."

"Good!"

As Lily left she called back, "I'm sorry Remus. I hope your friend gets better."

And then for the next few minutes, James and Peter muttered darkly to each other about Lily and Severus.

"It's not your fault," James told Remus firmly. "That _cockroach_ gave you phony instructions and hoped you'd brew it wrong. Thank God you were there to bring Sirius to the Hospital Wing."

"Yeah," Remus said quietly.

"Can you all leave?" Sirius said, his voice muffled by layers of blankets. "Except Remus."

"Oh, all right, hope you get dragon pox too," James said irritably and then left with Peter.

Remus smiled though he knew Sirius couldn't see him. "You can take off the blankets, if you like. I won't make fun of you."

"I don't want you to see me like this."

"Well, I have to see you without your shirt on everyday because of your unrelenting desire of not putting one on after your shower every morning, so there's that."

Sirius made an indistinct, indignant noise. "How rude."

"I'm serious," Remus said. "You don't have to cover up."

"No, I'm Sirius," he said and Remus groaned. "And, are you sure? I don't want you to get nightmares."

"I shall inform you if my sleep is plagued with dreams of your face," Remus said.

Sirius pulled back the blankets. His face was grotesquely ruined and pockmarked by dozens of huge, pulsating pimples and warts, all disgusting and sure to leave scars if Madam Pomfrey did not work her magic quick enough.

Remus raised his eyebrows and flicked the hair out of Sirius's eyes. "You don't look any different."

Sirius kicked him, and Remus laughed.


	13. A Hag in Fairy's Clothing

"Quiet people have the loudest minds."

 _\- Stephen Hawking_

* * *

"Severus is really sorry," Lily told Remus during Charms. Professor Flitwick was showing them the Severing Charm once more before they needed to hand in their essays the day later. Lily had finished hers the day it had been handed out, Remus had finished his yesterday, Peter was going to finish it today, James had not started it and Sirius didn't even know they had a Charms essay. Sirius was still in the Hospital Wing too.

Remus doubted it. "That's okay. Hey, you're coming to the library afterwards, right?"

Lily had taken an interest in going to the library and looking through books about magical ways of sneaking about. She also regularly rifled through volumes about dark creature catchers, banshees, and tried to find the history of Enid Tacey. She had not succeeded yet, but she was determined.

Remus was planning to go to the library with her to research the Wiggenweld Potion. The notes he had written down were not enough to brew it and instructions were scarce in his textbooks. He had not asked for Severus's help, for he was still wary about the last time he had asked Severus for help with a potion.

To his surprise and disappointment, she shook her head. "I've got detention with that _hag_ , remember?" she said, and Remus knew she was talking about Professor Tacey. "Actually, she might be an actual hag, I heard hags hate banshees…"

Remus rolled his eyes. "She's not a _hag_ , she's nice enough to us."

"A hag in fairy's clothing, then," Lily said.

"Whatever you say.

"Hey, Peter," Remus said as Peter walked past, holding his wand out in front of him and muttering incantations. "Can you come to the library with me today?"

Peter smiled. "I can't sorry, I've got to catch up on Transfiguring tissue boxes into birds. McGonagall's crazy about me doing it. D'you think she has a thing for birds?"

"Ah, I don't know," Remus said. It looked like he would have to go to the library alone.

"There's always me," James said, appearing next to Remus and smiling. Remus's heart fell. James had none of Sirius's charm or Lily's intelligence or Peter's constant kindness. Sure, James was funny … but what would that help him in schoolwork? James was also always determinedly and persistently uninterested in school and writing. The only thing James was rapt about, Sirius told him, was Quidditch.

"Uh, sure," he said, and the two of them made their way to the library.

Remus refrained from going to the library, due to the mad librarian there. Truly, as soon as they went into the library, Madam Pince gave the two beady looks as if they were criminals. She scrutinised James especially harshly, probably knowing his reputation for causing trouble throughout the school.

Remus and James put their things down on an empty table and began searching for the books they needed. Remus made his way to the Plants and Potions section, while James went to the Charms section to write up his Severing Charm Essay.

Remus squinted down at the incomplete list of ingredients provided by Slughorn. He decided to look for the plants in the recipe first. Firstly, there was root of aconite.

The plants section had a few encyclopaedic volumes about plants, but mainly there were hundreds and hundreds of files about every separate plant with magical properties. He had to stand on a stool to look at the 'A' section.

"Abyssinian Roses … Acanthacacia … ah, there it is," he said, and took out a thin file with aconite's information. He read the text aloud.

" _Aconite, also known as monkshood and Wolfsbane_ –" he flinched at the word 'wolf' "– _is a plant which has very poisonous leaves. Once, it was widespread, though now it is only found in wild places_. Oh, that's really helpful. 'Only found in wild places'. Maybe Sprout will have some, or I can ask Slughorn…"

After putting the file back where it came from, he proceeded to acquire more. Boom Berry, Moondew and Mandrake files were all piled up in his arms and he sat back down at the table. James was there, looking bored.

"Aren't you going to write your essay?" Remus said critically.

"Nah," James said, yawning. "Not interested."

This was exactly what Remus did not want to happen. Somehow, James would ruin the library, set fire to it or something.

"However," James said and his voice sounded so angry and cold that Remus looked up from his files in shock, "I'm interested to know why Snape thinks it's all right to eavesdrop on conversations."

Sure enough, Severus was sitting very near them and he had jerked his head away like he had been listening on to them a few moments earlier. He was sitting on his own, books surrounding him and his filthy robes. A quill was in his hand and from where Remus was sitting, there was a lot of writing in two different colour inks, though Remus had never known Severus to be the artistic type.

"I wasn't listening to you," Severus replied, a sneer on his face.

"Then what were you doing?" James said, sarcasm dripping from his voice. "Talking to your imaginary girlfriend?"

Severus made a smug smile, like sharing a private joke. "Not imaginary."

Remus put two and two together. All year, Lily had said she was talking to Severus while they were in class, and then blushed and flustered as if she didn't mean to let that slip. And now Severus was talking in a superior voice about talking to his "girlfriend". Severus only had one friend that was a girl that Remus knew of, and that was Lily, and he was now communicating with her.

So the two friends definitely had some sort of communication that was not face-to-face or with owls. Lily had probably been talking to Severus during that one Defence lesson Remus had tried to see what she was doing and she had not been writing. What was it? Scrying screens? Telepathy? Did Severus even attend his own lessons, or did Lily Transfigure Severus into something small so he could fit in her pocket? But that wouldn't make sense, because he knew Dumbledore had gone to his lessons to talk about Archie coming to the school. Lily was in detention right now, so it must be a long-range communication method…

The way Lily reacted to Remus asking questions or trying to peek at what she was writing was odd. It made him think that however Lily was talking to Severus was illegal, or taboo. Then, Remus groaned, because he was starting to become Lily, thinking that everything he didn't know about had to be something bad.

Perhaps the way of communication was just embarrassing, like they had to squawk every time they wanted to talk or do a funny dance. Or maybe the things they talked about were really private and Remus had no right finding out what they were speaking about. Yeah, that was it.

"You have a girlfriend?" James barked with laughter. "Yeah, right!"

"You don't seem to have one either," Severus snarled.

"At least I don't lie about it. Or lie about giving phony potion recipes."

"Guys," Remus said in what he hoped was a placating voice. "Let's not."

James shot him a look. "How can you defend him!"

"How can you be friends with Lily and _him_ at the same time?" Severus hissed.

"Whoa, calm down," said Remus. "I'm not defending any of you, because James started a fight and Severus prolonged it. I'm just telling you that right now and right here is not where you should have this argument. Let's leave, James."

James grumbled a bit, but walked away with Remus. Remus could see Severus still shooting daggers at the two of them as they left.

"I'm sorry," James said immediately as they walked out into the corridor. "We didn't get to do actual work, or get to read that much."

"It's fine," Remus smiled, surprised that James cared about his studying. "I don't really want to study with Severus nearby."

"Me neither," James said, hazel eyes behind glasses narrowed. "That Snape kid is evil."

"That's going a bit too far," Remus said.

James rounded on him. "No, it isn't!"

Remus raised his eyebrows.

"Oh, all right," James said, rolling his eyes and calming down. "Sorry for getting angry again. But he really is shady, sticking his enormous nose in other people's business … and he goes out of his way to make nasty comments about all of us, you included!"

Remus shrugged. "It's not like you're the epitome of kindness to him either. I remember the start of term when you did a jinx on him that he had to stay at the Hospital Wing. We were neighbours for a while, you know, I was in the bed next to him. Quite impressive feat of magic, though."

James barked with laughter. "You can't believe I did that without him doing something to me? He did a spell that made me grow boils on my skin for a week like Sirius, but I was too embarrassed to tell Madam Pomfrey."

"I didn't see any boils–?"

"Yeah, well, they were in an area I don't normally show you," James muttered and Remus snorted.

"And yeah, thanks for saying it was impressive, learned it in a book I stole from the library."

Remus narrowed his eyes. Madam Pince was protective of her books like they were her children. "How did you steal a book from the library?"

James countered, "Why were you in the Hospital Wing that one time? I thought we weren't going to talk about this again."

Remus rolled his eyes. "Oh, all right. You know, Lily's on your back and she's been trying to find out how you've been disappearing from all our classes. I think I'm starting to become like her…"

"Oh, not her, I think she's horrible…"

"Yeah, well, that's not what Sirius told me."

"I hate you so much."

"Yeah, but not her, right?"

Raucous laughter and James Potter tackling him filled Remus Lupin's afternoon. Remus decided that while rowdy, and trouble-making, and careless, James was all right.

Remus yawned and rubbed his eyes. "Let's go to bed."

The next day was Defence Against the Dark Arts in the morning.

"How was detention?" Remus asked Lily as they entered the classroom.

"It was really boring," Lily said dismissively. "But that's not the point. The point is, I'm still not any closer to finding out what Tacey is hiding. I mean, you'd think spending an hour with her writing lines would tell me more … but all I can tell at the moment is she just doesn't like banshees."

"Maybe it's just that, Lily," Remus said. "Maybe she just doesn't like banshees."

"Nothing you say is going to stop me, you know!" warned Lily.

"I know," Remus said, and sighed.

Remus was distracted that day. He hadn't seen Archie in a while and was determined to visit him.

Before Slughorn dismissed them for the day he said, "Holidays are soon. Remember, you have one more term for brewing the Wiggenweld Potion!"

Remus groaned. He had been putting off brewing it, due to his dislike of potions. Archie had been the sole exception, Remus furiously making anything that could improve his dragon friend's condition. Yesterday he had, however, tried to research some of the ingredients but obviously James and Severus had interrupted that.

When he made his way into the Room of Requirement that afternoon, he was surprised that someone else was there. So surprised he was, that he tripped and almost knocked over a shelf full of casts and bandages. (Other shelves of mixtures and elixirs had already been thoroughly searched through by Remus and he had found nothing that could help Archie.)

Quite embarrassed at having fallen over, he got up slowly and peered behind the shelf to see a short, hunched figure examining the cage in which Archie was in. He realised it was _Professor Tacey_ , the elderly woman looking fascinated by the sick creature.

To Remus's delight, Archie was up and moving again, though he still looked incredibly unwell. Barely a wisp of smoke emitted from his throat and the nasty, green scar stood out against a purple underbelly.

Remus watched as Tacey walked around the cage slowly, drinking in the sight of the dragon, enthralled. Remus wondered why–but then remembered with a smack of his forehead that Tacey was once a dark creature studier and that dragons were rare and that the sight of one was awe-inspiring.

Remus wondered why Tacey was here _now_. The dragon had been in the school for almost the whole school year, and Tacey looked like this was her first time seeing the dragon, watery eyes wide and unspeaking mouth in a circle. It made him think that Dumbledore had not told Tacey about the dragon's location, like he had with Professor Sprout and Madam Pomfrey, or Tacey was not allowed to see Archie.

Remus noticed that, even alone, Tacey did not speak – or maybe it was just that, unlike Remus, she did not talk to herself. Nevertheless, it seemed that she did not talk to anybody, not to students, to teachers or to herself.

Remus was kind of unsure about going out to the dragon too. He felt that Tacey would not treat Remus with the same kindness as Dumbledore had when catching Remus somewhere he shouldn't really be.

Remus was apprehensive too. When would Tacey leave? Would she treat Archie all right? But Tacey was a teacher, of course she would be careful with Archie.

But Remus was not counting on Tacey not being careful with herself.

Tacey had found the silvery key resting on a table near the cage. She must have put two and two together and with shaky, gnarled hands, she entered the key into its keyhole. Bars of an unknown metal winked out of existence and Remus stood still in shock.

Tacey approached the cage, a look of utter amazement on her little face as she took in the sight of the dragon, magnificent even in deteriorating health. She entered the cage with no anxiety, no uneasiness, only wonderment.

Archie reared back at the unfamiliar sight but Tacey was undeterred. She walked even closer. Archie's throat glowed red and a sound rumbled in his mouth.

Knowing what was coming, Remus burst from his hiding spot and dashed into the cage. Panting, he tried to grab Tacey's arm and drag her away, but she just stood there, engrossed by the happenings.

"Come on!" Remus yelled, tugging at her as hard as he could.

Archie had flown up as high as he could – which was not very high, considering the confines of the cage – and was flapping his sinewy wings dangerously. Fierce purples eyes disappeared under black eyelids as waves of fire blasted from his maw.

This was when Remus thought Archie was most like a beast. When Archie blasted his deadly fire from his mouth, he became an _it_ rather than a _him_ , a thoughtless monster rather than a hurt animal. Was this what it was like, every month, for Remus? But Archie was only a beast in these random spurts of rage and fear and pain – Remus was a monster full-time, like someone would have a full-time job.

His thoughts distracted him long enough for him to drag Tacey away a little too late; dragon's fire had brushed Tacey's fingers, the second time Archie's flame had scorched the hands of fascinated onlookers.

Tacey had lost her entranced look; her face was now contorting in pain, the tips of her fingers blackened and burned.

"I'll have it somewhere here, just wait," Remus breathlessly told the Professor, who was clutching her pained hand. She looked as if she was about to scream, but then looking at Remus, closed her mouth and returned to haggardly puffing.

Sure enough, he found his flasks of Riggleroot Extract tucked behind a cabinet of different kinds of plasters. He grabbed them, poured globs of it onto his palm and rubbed it onto the Professor's hands gently, hoping not to cause too much pain for her.

"I'm sorry, I don't know any healing spells, Dumbledore fixed me once before…" Remus said while rubbing Riggleroot Extract on Tacey's fingers, worried for her wellbeing. "He said dragon's fire sinks into the skin, but it only brushed you a little bit, right? If it hurts anymore, please go and ask Dumbledore. He knows his stuff."

Tacey remained silent, like Remus expected her to.

"Are you all right?" Remus asked her. She nodded. "Archie usually isn't that angry … he's just really sick right now and probably got scared of your sudden appearance. If you ever come back here, don't approach him so suddenly, okay?"

Tacey's stricken expression told him she wouldn't ever be coming back here.

"You don't happen to know anything that could help with the infection?" Remus asked hopefully after a pause. She shook her head.

"Ah, well," Remus said, glum. He finished using the Riggleroot. "I hope you're better now."

Tacey opened her mouth as if to say thank you, but thought better of it.


	14. Sirius's Surprise

"People give one another things that can't be gift wrapped."

 _\- Nadine Gordimer_

* * *

Remus woke up on the tenth of March to a blur of colours and laughter. There were suddenly two people upon him, throwing up his blankets and shouting with glee. Pillows were tossed across the room and suddenly a pile of things were thrust into Remus's lap.

Through blurred, sleepy vision, he saw James and Peter grinning at him. On his lap, he saw two boxes of sweets.

"Huh?" Remus said, bleary eyed. "What's this about?"

James looked at him incredulously. "It's your birthday."

"Oh, yeah, right!" Remus said. Distracted by thoughts of the Potions project and the fixing the condition of Archie, he had completely forgotten about his birthday. "How did you know?"

"Sirius told us," James admitted.

"We didn't know what to get you," Peter said.

"But Sirius told us you really liked chocolate, so Peter and I snuck into Hogsmeade the last visit with the third years and then bought some from Honeydukes and then snuck back."

If Remus was Lily, he would have crossed his arms, puffed out his cheeks, narrowed his eyes and said, "How did you sneak into Hogsmeade with all that security?" but instead said: "As a matter of fact," Remus said, "where's Sirius?"

The fourth boy of the dormitory was nowhere to be seen.

James shrugged. "He wasn't here when we woke up."

Peter said, "Well, happy birthday!"

Remus was sort of let down. He had been hoping that Sirius, someone Remus held in high regard, in a special place in his heart, would at least stay in the dormitory to wish him a happy birthday.

Nevertheless, Remus was filled with warmth at the other two boys' giddiness. He grinned. "Thanks guys."

They made their way to breakfast. Sirius was absent again. Lily, however, was there and brandished a card and a load of textbooks on the table near Remus as soon as he sat at the table.

"You were struggling with making the Wiggenweld, so I got you this," Lily said straightforwardly, pointing at one Potions recipe book, "and there's supposed to be some really hard Transfiguration in the end-of-year test, so there's that book, oh and the plant identification one too, I tried to order the newer edition, but they didn't have it there…"

Remus laughed. "Thanks Lily."

"You're welcome," Lily said. Then she hesitated. "I had no idea what to get you, I'm sorry. We always talk about books but we've never talked about what books you don't have, and I didn't want to get you one you already had, so…"

"Don't worry," Remus said, smiling warmly. "Now I can finally brew that stupid Potions project."

"Stupid? I think it's quite clever, I've already finished mine…"

"What? I added the salamander blood, but it's not turning turquoise."

"Well, see, you have to wait about a week."

"A _week_? Oh, God. Have you handed yours in yet?"

"Nope," Lily said. "I think I did mine incorrect, so I might do it again."

"Yeah, well," Remus said darkly, "you can give me your old one then."

"No," said Lily firmly. "That's against the rules. You have to do it by yourself."

Since it was a Saturday, Remus was free to do whatever he pleased. As he lugged up his new pile of books to his dormitory (but kept the cards because, oh, fine, he was sentimental), he hoped to see Sirius there, shirtless because he had been in the shower the whole time, or wrapped in his blankets, having been asleep while Remus, James and Peter had congregated. Neither happened.

Disappointed, he went to the library with Lily where, to his utter discomfort, Severus joined them. Severus did not wish him a happy birthday, even after sighting the birthday cards that Remus carried around.

He was almost glad when Lily pulled him aside after half an hour of awkward, silent studying, punctured with Severus sneering when Remus made any noise.

"Severus isn't really comfortable with people," Lily said apologetically. They were standing a little ways from Severus, but Remus could see his scowl through the corner of his eye. "Just me. Could you … leave for now? I promise I'll help you with the Wiggenweld later. Severus just doesn't like most people. Don't take it personally."

"It's okay," Remus said, secretly feeling that he didn't really like Severus either.

"Happy birthday again," she said, smiling.

He left, and hoped he would find Sirius in the dormitory but he was disappointed yet again. Instead, on his bed was a bird.

A large bird of red and gold plumage sat elegantly, its head cocked to the side and black eyes curious. Its scarlet feathers glowed and its tail was as long as a peacock's. Its golden talons dug into Remus's mattress and its beak opened and released a musical squawk.

With increasing excitement, Remus realised that the bird in front of him was a _phoenix_.

"Oh, my God," Remus whispered. Creatures of fire seemed to entrance him a lot. _This_ animal born in flame could revive Remus's other favourite fiery beast.

He approached the bird cautiously, afraid it might fly away. It did not, though it did look at Remus suspiciously.

"You're Fawkes, right?" Remus said, remembering Dumbledore's words and thinking this was probably Dumbledore's bird.

Fawkes gave no reply.

"You're beautiful," Remus said breathily and it was true. The bird was of Gryffindor colours, with luminescent feathers and its long tail curled elegantly.

He reached out to stroke Fawkes, but the animal hopped backwards and screeched incompliantly.

"All right, won't touch you," he said, keeping his distance but still looking, captivated, at the graceful phoenix.

Remus, apprehensive that Fawkes – and Archie's ticket to good health – would fly away if he got too close, sat on Sirius's bed next to his own. They stared at each other, hazel eyes wide and fascinated looking at unimpressed, black ones.

"Can you understand me?" asked Remus, hopefully looking at the bird, looking for a response.

A moment's silence. Then–

Fawkes almost imperceptibly nodded its magnificent head.

Remus made an excited noise in his throat. "That's awesome! Then you can cry and I can use your tears to help Archie – that's my friend, he's a dragon."

At the word _cry_ the bird shrieked, flapping its red and gold wings. In a flash of flame, the bird disappeared, leaving a wisp of smoke behind.

Remus stood up suddenly, wildly whipping his head around. Fawkes was nowhere to be seen.

Remus said a word he would not say in front of Professor McGonagall.

"Oh, well," he said, grumbling. The phoenix had disappeared and there wasn't anything that Remus could do about it, really.

So, resignedly, he lied down in Sirius's bed and began reading a new textbook Lily had gotten him about animals with magical properties. He flipped to the _P_ section and found phoenixes. He'd read a little about them before but not too much, so he was surprised how much he did not know.

Phoenixes did not cry often, but only when witnessing acts of bravery, strength, friendship, love and sacrifice. Phoenixes were almost _impossible_ to tame, much like a dragon, and there were only two known, tamed ones in Britain, namely the mascot of Moutohora Macaws, a Quidditch team from New Zealand, and Fawkes, wherein it named Dumbledore as the owner directly. Phoenixes had the power to disappear in a flare of fire and appear in an entirely different area, like wizards Apparating.

He did not know when or how he fell asleep, but he awoke in Sirius's bed with a start, having smelt smoke.

His first thought was that there was a fire, but that was impossible right? Truly, it was not a fire, but rather the excess smoke from Fawkes's teleportation into the Gryffindor dormitory again. The phoenix looked very unhappy, but rather more angry than sad, with less chance of tears.

"Hello," Remus said cautiously. There was still a chance the bird would fly away or teleport in a flash of flame again.

Fawkes gave no reply, but gave him a disparaging look.

"Well, I didn't _ask_ you to be here," Remus said, frowning. He decided he liked Archie much better, prettiness aside. At least Archie didn't have as much of an attitude.

His sentence sent his thoughts whirring. Obviously, the phoenix looked like it would much rather drown in the Black Lake than be here with Remus, so something must be keeping it here. Maybe it wanted to apologise? The unsympathetic expression on its feathery face told him otherwise.

His textbook told him of the unwillingness to cooperate with human beings other than their master of phoenixes. Remus deduced that the thing keeping Fawkes here was his own master, Dumbledore, who had ordered Fawkes to stay here.

But why?

Obviously, Dumbledore was replying to Remus's plea for Fawkes's tears. But why give an uncooperative phoenix in flashes of flame instead of its helpful tears in a bottle? Remus would have found it much easier if Dumbledore had given the later.

But, Remus reasoned, Dumbledore would not have found this handing of tears as much of a learning or growing experience as much as _earning_ the tears, and Remus agreed. Forever the professor, eternally the teacher, Dumbledore had passed Remus the soil and the seeds to flourish into a beautiful, blossoming flower.

However, the flower in Remus's hands, or rather the phoenix staring coldly at him a metre away, did not want to grow, did not want to help Remus. Its black, unfriendly eyes were dry, no tears leaking out.

Remus made a grumbling noise. Dumbledore was a good teacher but not a good helper.

"I assume you'll have to stay in the dorm until Dumbledore lets you leave?" Remus asked, secretly relishing in the idea of an evil pigeon being cooped up in a room forever.

The bird, of course, gave no reply, but rather glared at him.

"Well, bye then, I'm going to go," Remus said, smiling sardonically at the phoenix and noticing that he had slept for a while and it was dark outside.

But as he closed the door and went down the stairs into the common room, fire blinked before him and there was Fawkes, perched upon a sofa.

And it seemed to Remus that the bird was to follow him everywhere.

First it was funny, the bird having to fly beside him everywhere he went. Remus experimented, going into the library. Madam Pince had shrieked at the flaming tail, throwing books at the phoenix. Fawkes had teleported to several places, squawking furiously. Anger seemed to incense its plumage and incredible curls of smoke emanated off its burning feathers.

Remus pleasured in having Fawkes squeeze through narrow corridors, but drew the line at the bird following him to the bathroom.

Remus stood in wait in his cubicle, the bird circling overhead. It was terribly awkward and he could absolutely not do his business with a crazy firebird watching him.

"Could you … could you go away?" he asked and Fawkes, seeing Remus's utter discomfort, delighted in squawking and flying over him.

Remus was forced to pass water with the bird squawking and shrieking above him and every other person in the bathroom staring at him.

"I hate you," he hissed at the bird.

Its beak curved in what looked like a smile.

Fawkes followed him to dinner. "What is that big, bloody bird doing here?" James asked, Peter giggled at his language. "Some mad birthday present?"

"It's Dumbledore's pet bird," Remus explained. "He, uh, wants me to extract its tears."

"Crazy, I tell you," said James, returning to his pie and mash.

Remus was about to dig into his own pie when Fawkes swooped down from the ceiling and snatched it from the plate, gobbling it up in one. Determined not to let the phoenix get to him, Remus began lifting spoonfuls of salad into his mouth.

A spark of flame burst into existence in front of his eyes, and he jerked back fast enough for his nose not to get burned. Fawkes stood on the table, talons hooked into singed wood, head cocked devilishly. Remus's, James's and Peter's dinners and the table were blackened in a circle, the remainder of the stupid bird's fire.

James set his melting fork down, annoyed. "That damn bird!"

"Don't swear," Lily said, coming to sit down next to Remus. Her eyes narrowed in on the sight of Fawkes. "Ooh, is that a phoenix? I've always wanted to see one!"

"Yes," Remus said. "You can have it. But don't touch it, it'll get angry."

Lily wasn't listening and she already reached her hand out to caress the phoenix. It did not, however, disappear in a flash of flames or squawk rudely at her, but rather enjoyed the touch and purred.

Slightly annoyed and thinking that the bird was now officially, temporarily his and should like him better, he left the table saying he had to do something. Lily waved goodbye to the phoenix, cooing.

Remus made his way to the seventh floor, but he wasn't going back to Gryffindor Tower.

"I bet you liked that, someone showing you affection for the first time the whole day," Remus said, "but I don't dorm with her, she's a girl. You'll just have to put up with my friends and me at night. Oh, God, I just thought about what it would be like, trying to sleep with your glowing feathers like a night light."

The bird just flapped its wings beside him.

"You might want to know where we're going," Remus said casually. "I'm taking you somewhere you might actually be useful."

He made his way to the Room of Requirement, and told the Room aloud of his need to see Archie. A door materialised for him and he opened it easily.

There was Archie in his cage, black scales and green infection on purple underbelly and all, up and moving but slowly and unsurely like he might drop any second. Remus felt a pang in his chest. The dragon was full-grown now, Remus was sure of it, and the cage had been magically enlarged to allow it more space. The dragon was more than thirty-feet long, its arrow-tipped tail the lengthiest part of its body.

Fawkes glided into the room and perched upon a table where the key was. Remus walked towards it and snatched it up, routinely inserting the key and watching as metal shimmered out of existence.

During the last few weeks, he had become accustomed to entering Archie's cage and sitting next to him, just talking. It calmed Remus and he liked to think it calmed Archie too.

As Remus walked in, the dragon saw Remus and dropped down to the floor with a thud. Even Archie had become accustomed to Remus's visits, knew that Remus was the one who fed him and stroked him softly on the belly.

Perhaps in a better condition, Archie would have burned him to a crisp, but the dragon only regarded Remus with sad, purple eyes.

"Hey buddy," Remus said quietly, getting on his knees. If he stretched his arms, he could stroke the side of Archie's face. His hand was as big as Archie's eye. "How are you?"

Archie closed his eyelids. His face was rough and scaly and bumpy but Remus's hand was soft and gently, just the right mixture.

"I see you're better, that's really good," Remus said, smiling a little. "Hey, guess what? It's my birthday today! That means I was born on this same day, twelve years ago. Ages, am I right? You're only about four years yourself, I think. I wonder when your birthday is."

Sometime between Remus entering the cage and Remus sitting down next to Archie, Fawkes had flown from its perch and had landed on the floor next to the two of them, its head cocked curiously to the side, watching the situation. Remus wished the bird would leave, as it was a private moment.

"You've gotten so big," Remus said, wiping tears from his eyes. Truly, the little, scarred, young dragon that got into tantrums and burned everything in its path was so much more different from this sickly, dying one. The dragon felt something painful and it groaned loudly.

Remus rested his face against the hide of the dragon, ignoring the spikiness of the skin. He wish his own tears could heal, because he was crying in earnest now. He remembered first seeing the little, angry dragon that ran out of fire, he remembered how Archie's flame had burned Remus's skin, he remembered when he had first overheard that Archie was dying.

Archie _was_ going to die, and Remus knew it, because Fawkes was just a bird and did not understand Remus's pain, or Fawkes did not think Remus was worthy.

Remus had set his hand beside Archie unconsciously and Archie had lifted his own hand and set it down upon Remus's, putting a sudden pressure upon it and almost crushing it. But Remus didn't care because the gesture resounded more than any heavy paw would. A boy and his dragon. A dragon and his boy.

Remus heard Fawkes make a little noise in its throat and he whipped around and he recognised that look on Fawkes's because it was the one he saw the last few days whenever he thought of Archie. It looked like Fawkes was about to cry.

But it didn't, and a tear glistening on a black eye disappeared. Maybe Remus was just imagining it, because Fawkes made an impatient noise, as if waiting for Remus like he was doing something vapid and unimportant like reading a book or eating food and not crying with a friend at death's door.

Remus sniffed. "Fine. Stupid bird."

Remus extracted his hand from under Archie's and said goodbye several times before leaving the Room of Requirement. When he got back into his dormitory, the phoenix still following him grudgingly, two out of four birds were filled with sleeping boys, while Remus's and Sirius's were empty.

Suddenly, Remus was worried. He thought Sirius was just up to his usual troublemaking, but he hadn't been seen him the whole day.

As if on cue, Sirius burst into the room, breathless and holding a pile of things in his arms that Remus couldn't see because of the darkness filling the room. It was still cold, both out and in, so Sirius was wearing a jumper, though he was sweating and his sleeves were rolled up like he had been running. He had stuffed his tangled mess of hair in a beanie, and stray curls were plastered to his forehead with perspiration. But the only thing Remus cared about was the huge grin splitting across his happy face.

"Happy birthday!" Sirius shouted and then Remus pointed at their two snoozing roommates and his voice lowered. "Whoops, sorry. But happy birthday. And is that a phoenix?"

"Yes it is, and thanks, Sirius, but where–?"

"Sit down with me," Sirius said and Remus smiled despite himself. He did so, and Sirius carefully laid out the objects in his hand. The room had been dark, but the glow of Fawkes's feathers lit it up considerably. Two boys, lit by fire, rifling through presents.

"So I bought _this_ in Honeydukes," Sirius said, pointing at a box of chocolates – his absolute favourite. Of course Sirius would remember that about Remus.

"Then, I found this sweater in Twilfitt and Tattings, you've no idea how hard it is to find good clothing shops in Hogsmeade, you'd think they have everything," Sirius said, directing Remus's attention to the biggest, thickest, cutest, nicest, bluest sweater Remus had ever seen, with a moving picture of a quill zooming across paper imprinted on it.

"I found this thing that I thought you'd like somewhere random," Sirius said and his voice had gone a little bit shyer and quieter and Remus turned to look at what it was. It was a box of little things, some of them silver, some small jewellery, some wooden dolls, but all of them cute and quirky and made Remus's heart warm. "I, uh, thought you'd be in love with this sort of stuff."

"I am," Remus told him, knowing Sirius felt a little insecure about getting it.

Sirius tried to hide his smile. "And then there's _this_ , which I know you'll love."

Remus gasped. "Sirius! You – you – how?"

"I'm a Black," he said, shrugging. "My family knows a lot of people. I know you love these ones in particular, but you have barely any of your own, so I got them signed…"

Remus made a squeal in his throat, for there were his three favourite books in the wizarding world. The philosophical debate of _The Sea and the Song_ by Melody Marin, the romantic comedy novel of _Witches and Something Rhyming With it Starting with B_ by Valencia Spottering and the first, classical adventure novel of a poor wizard boy's growth into king, _The Life of Lad_ by Warren Egbert. All three had signatures across the pages.

"So that's where you've been," Remus said breathily. "Getting all of these for me. You didn't need to, Sirius."

"Of course I did," Sirius said dismissively. "I got these signatures ages ago, anyway, except for the Spottering woman, she was so difficult to track down, but I finally got an appointment with her today, that's why I was so late, she refused for so long–"

But Remus silenced him with the biggest, best hug he had ever hugged and Sirius returned it with silence, for there were no words needed to be said when you were the best of friends.

* * *

 **A/N:** Hello! I'm so sorry I've taken so long to update, I just recently got back to school. Special thanks to DelusionalDoll, Supergoddad and lizzypotterfan for being my most devoted readers and reviewers, I love you lots!


	15. Dry Eyes

"Tears clear our vision, rather than blur it."

\- _Something I just made up_

* * *

 **A/N** **:** Warning: swearing! For comedic effect, but still swear words nonetheless. By the way, you'll notice I changed some chapter names and added quotes at the beginning of chapters.

* * *

March flew past them in a blur and April appeared in a flurry of James's and Sirius's pranks erupting right and left. Remus was very amused when he found all his clothes a bright, horrible pink (though he saw Lily looking less amused when she discovered all her _skin_ was recoloured green.) Poor Peter was "accidentally" given whiskers that both James and Sirius were profusely sorry about (though Remus did see them giggling after their apologies.)

Teachers began their tireless speech at the beginning of every lesson about the importance of the exams coming soon – "Isn't even Easter yet," Sirius grumbled – and then proceeded to dump as much homework as they could. Remus, and a whole lot of other first-years had begun to appreciate Slughorn's decision to give them their project as early as possible, because it was becoming apparent that it was very difficult and took very long. Lily gave Remus a smug look when she announced that she had finished brewing it thrice and Remus was still up to lionfish spines.

Fawkes the phoenix still followed Remus everywhere he went, but Remus had given up trying to coax tears out of the aloof bird, so it had to tag along with him everywhere, still with absolutely no enthusiasm. All the teachers were very uneasy about letting Fawkes, flaming feathers and all, in their respective classrooms – it almost set fire to Sprout's Strangipanis and McGonagall Transfigured it into a ragdoll for an hour after it had squawked too loudly – with the sole exception of Tacey, whom Remus assumed would be head over heels for another strange, beautiful beast.

Tacey had become even more withdrawn in class ever since Remus had seen Archie burn her fingertips. She never spoke still, of course, but her eyes were tired and her mouth was drooped into a sad frown. She did not look like she wanted to be here in Hogwarts, teaching students. There were poorly-dressed bandages around the tips of her fingers where Remus knew were the burn mark, so she had obviously not gone to Dumbledore or Pomfrey for medical assistance. Her practical lessons had reduced in number and quality and now most of her classes were copying down whatever she wrote.

Remus didn't mind too much. He got to talk to Lily more that way.

"So: finished the Wiggenweld?" she whispered to him while Tacey wrote limply about the Knockback Jinx.

"No," admitted Remus. "Oh, go away, you're going to burn my parchment," he said irritably to the phoenix gliding uncomfortably close to Remus's table.

"He's such a beautiful bird," Lily said, sighing and leant her face on her upright hand. "I wish he followed me."

"Me too," he said, shooting a dirty look at Fawkes. "It's so annoying."

Lily shrugged. Then: "Where are you up to in the Wiggenweld?"

Remus hesitated. "Uh, the lionfish spines."

"You still haven't done the lionfish spines?" she said incredulously. "Remus, it's due–"

"In a term," Remus finished. "I have loads of time. I have the whole Easter holidays to do it. By the way, are you staying this holidays? I am."

Lily gave him a look that told him she did not appreciate his change of subject. "In fact, I am too, so I can catch up with all the homework."

"Homework? We don't have that much, or at least enough that you can't do at home…"

Lily waved her hand dismissively. "Severus told me that before the Easter holidays the professors give us so many assignments and revision that we should just stay at school."

It turned out that Lily was right. In the last week before the end of the second term, the teachers surprised them with three new assignments and five past papers that was expected to be finished when the Easter holidays were over.

The Easter holidays were short and filled to the brim with furious writing on parchment and reopening old textbooks for help. He rarely visited Archie anymore, much to his miserableness, and on the spare days he could, he spent as much time possible, talking quietly with the dragon and daring to make some more remedies, none of which fixed the green infection on his purple belly.

And then there was the issue of the Wiggenweld Potion. Remus had asked Sprout politely for a stewed Mandrake for his Wiggenweld one fine Spring day and she had given him the lifeless plant, reassuring him that the Mandrake was not alive anymore and would not kill him with its scream. He asked where he would get flobberworm mucus, and she directed him to Hagrid, the groundskeeper of Hogwarts castle. At first, Remus was terrified of the enormous beast of a man, but after an afternoon of chatting to Hagrid, eating rocky cakes and petting strange animals, Remus thought he was quite a friendly person. At the end of the day, Remus lugged up a bucket of flobberworm slime and even a pouch of Billywig stings to extract the slime towards the castle, feeling quite satisfied. Remus, armed with his bundle of ingredients, including Moondew drops plucked from the Herbology gardens, Unicorn horns given to all of them in the class by Slughorn and a Wolfsbane plant found in a classroom cupboard, began to brew in earnest.

After plucking the poisonous Wolfsbane with gloved hands and dropping petals one by one into the pale yellow mixture, he finished for the day. The instructions told him that the potion would not change to purple until a few days of waiting.

"It's looking really good, Remus," Lily said brightly one day as she looked over his cauldron.

For the first time in a long time, he was proud of a potion he made.

The Easter holidays ended but it didn't really feel like they had ever started. On the first of May, three days after the full moon, Remus was still feeling the pain of it. Red scars reminiscent of Archie's infection slashed down his arm, and he made sure to wear longer sleeves that day to cover up the cut.

Remus picked out his clothing for the day, Fawkes circling overheard like an unsteady chandelier or something. He quietly thought that he could maybe pay a visit to Archie today.

To the whole class's surprise when they walked to the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom on that Monday morning, Tacey was not there, clutching her fingers in pain, or silently brooding or imprinting strokes onto the blackboard at the end of the classroom. Instead, Professor McGonagall stood erect and firm in the doorway, towering over them.

"Professor Tacey has gone missing," she said and then erupted a noisy clamour of loud whispers and questions, nudges and wide-eyed looks.

"Quiet!" McGonagall said and the Gryffindors fell silent. "As you aware, this means you cannot have Defence Against the Dark Arts lessons anymore until the staff and the Ministry of Magic find her again, or at least a suitable replacement. Till then, you will have free periods during this time" (–an uproar of happiness exploded within them–) "but I am sure you will spend those periods doing homework and studying for the final exams coming up in just over six weeks! Now, off you go."

Remus, however, stayed behind, Fawkes lingering beside him, bored. "Professor, but where did she go–?"

"I haven't the faintest," Professor McGonagall said primly. "But I am sure the Headmaster will find her."

And then the professor ushered him out, briskly telling him she had other things to do and he better get up to the Common Room or the library or he would get a detention. Feeling very uneasy about the sudden disappearance of the teacher, he made his way to the Common Room. There, James, Sirius and Peter were having a fierce three-way Gobstones game that Remus did not want to interrupt, so he made his way to Lily, who looked concerned.

"Are you fretting about not passing the Defence exams?" Remus asked as he sat down in the couch next to her. "Don't worry, you'll be fine."

"No, it's not that," said Lily. "It's about her going missing. I'm sure it has something to do with whatever she's hiding."

Remus rolled his eyes but did not say anything for fear of Lily's outburst. "Hey, do you have anymore Chizpurfle fangs from when you made your project? It says on the instructions I need seven."

Lily shuddered, for Chizpurfles were little parasites that clung to magical things. "I hate bugs and anything to do with them. I threw away any remaining fangs, they were so small."

"Bugger," said Remus and Lily smacked him on the arm for his language. "I think I'll try and find some in the grounds then." He turned to Fawkes, who was again hovering near Remus's shoulder. "I don't suppose you have any fleas on you?"

The phoenix glared at him, affronted at the idea.

"He says no," Remus told her.

Lily frowned. "How do you know?"

"How do I know what?"

"That he said no."

He frowned back, confused. "Well, its body language says it all, its facial expression and the way it spreads its wings when threatened."

"But it's a bird," she said. "It doesn't _have_ any facial expression."

"It does," Remus insisted. "You can tell if you look at it."

"I don't think so," Lily said.

Remus shrugged.

Lily perked up again. "You know! I'm starting to think that Tacey wasn't actually unable to speak but she just kept silent. That's very suspicious, don't you think?"

Remus laughed at her determination to discover and they lapsed back into normal conversation. Halfway through it, the sight of Fawkes's fire reminded him of Archie's.

"Oh!" said Remus, remembering that he wanted to visit Archie today. "I'll be back later, bye Lily."

And with that, he sped off, the phoenix unhappily tailing him.

As soon as Remus saw Archie, slumped against the floor, breathing heavily in a pool of his own sludge and sick, tears pooling in big purple eyes, Remus spun on his heel to glare at the firebird behind him.

"You are _going_ to cry," said Remus forcefully. "And I will make you."

* * *

For the next few days, studies went out of his mind, for there was a much more pressing matter at hand. The phoenix would not cry.

Remus went through a list in his head of things that made him cry: The part in Valencia Spottering's _Witches and Something Rhyming With it Starting with B_ when Cynthia dies in a broom crash and Randon mopes for months. When dogs die. When friends fight.

None of those things was something that Remus would like to put Fawkes through, but death-generating sickness was something that Remus would not like to put Archie through either.

So he did the one thing that he could possibly demonstrate to Fawkes, averse to the idea of genuinely, or putting on a farce, of friends fighting because Fawkes would probably just find it funny, and unwilling to make a dog die.

One evening, Remus sat in a cosy couch in the Common Room, his new, signed copy of Valencia Spottering's book in his hand and Fawkes perched upon the couch arm. Remus opened the book up to the slightly offensive first sentences.

" 'Some witches are bitches but not all bitches are witches,' " Remus began to read to Fawkes, grinning a bit at the swear words. " 'Cynthia, our protagonist, in particular is both a witch and a bitch while her enemy Casey is only a bitch and not a witch, while her friend Jessamine is only a witch and not a bitch and Randon is neither a bitch nor a witch.' "

And over the next week, every evening he read aloud to Fawkes one of his favourite books in the world, much like he once read to Archie. He could tell Fawkes understood what he was saying from the expressions on its face. Over time, as he got lost into Spottering's world, it became less of a time for the phoenix to cry and more for Remus to fall in love with the story again.

He laughed at the parts where Cynthia thought Randon was in a relationship with Casey, and when Cynthia tried to give Casey possum poison but instead gave her pretty potion. He giggled every time a swear word popped up. He cried (and saw Fawkes look sad) at the emotional parts after Cynthia's death. He smiled at the warm ending, where Randon rekindled his friendship with Casey and Jessamine got her Honking Hobblefoot she had always wanted.

Eventually, when they finished, Remus hesitated because he did not know what to do. Fawkes squawked, disappeared in flame and reappeared in a period of a few seconds. When he appeared again, there was a book in his beak.

Remus took it and saw it was _The Life of Lad_. The coming-of-age story was read aloud through a fortnight because of the sheer length of the novel. Remus could tell that Fawkes was interested by the way the black eyes lit up, and the way that its talons that dug into the couch arm relaxed when it listened.

Throughout the end of May, Remus forgot about tears, his thoughts overrun with reading and remembering and resting his head on Fawkes.

" 'And Sir Caldwell said to Lad, "What would you like to change your name to, young knight, for Lad is only given to peasant boys?' " Remus read. " 'Lad merely smiled. "I shall not change my name, for I will always be Lad, no matter my title." The end.' "

Remus turned to look at Fawkes. "Did you like it?"

Fawkes tilted its – _his_ – head to the side and gave Remus a curious look. _Is that it?_

"Yeah," Remus said. "It's a heptalogy, that means there are seven books in the series. I've only read the next three, _Life of Knight_ , _Life of Prince_ and _Life of Murderer_. I have really old copies at home, but I might try and find the rest in a bookstore in the holidays."

The phoenix merely stared back, his head cocked sideways. _Do you have any more?_

Remus thought about it. "Well, the only other novel I have is _The Sea and the Song_ , which can be kind of boring for some people. Are you sure you want me to read it?"

Fawkes nodded his beautiful head vigorously.

And so Remus read Melody Marin's long, beautiful, descriptive words weaving the story of a mermaid who fell in love with a wizard. Entranced, the mermaid went to a maleficent witch and traded her talent of singing, her most powerful ability, for legs and a wand. As Remus read the tragic tale, a philosophical text about non-humans and inequality and social classing disguised as a fairy tale. Not that anybody would read it to children; it was over a thousand pages in length, even in its abridged format.

Remus felt a pang every time the little mermaid tried to integrate into wizarding society, only to be buffeted and pushed away, for he too related to not fitting into a world.

" 'And so the handsome wizard married a fair maiden and had countless children and the immoral witch continued thieving, tricking and killing foolish passers-by and the mermaid forever existed in a half-state of foam and water and her sisters lived in eternal grief until the days of their deaths,' " Remus read out, " 'for a wizard will live a full life of education and employment and happiness and anybody else does not deserve that, their songs and calls for help drowned by the density of the perpetual sea and the thickness of wizarding skulls. The end.' "

Remus turned to look at Fawkes, who was looking a little stunned.

"Did you like it?" asked Remus.

 _Sort of_ , the phoenix seemed to say. _It was very confusing._

"Yeah, a lot of people say that."

Unlike _The Life of Lad_ , which had existed since before Hogwarts had been founded and had been translated so many times into modern languages, and which had obtained a cult following, and unlike _Witches and Something Rhyming With it Starting With B_ , which was the obsession of several middle-aged witches who were hopeless romantics (and Remus), Melody Marin's novel was not popular. It was not famous, for it was lengthy and overly descriptive and sometimes boring and drawn out, but Remus loved it because he _understood_ how the little mermaid felt, how she could so longed to fit in with the beautiful new society, how she had a secret that she was not fully human, but was kind and sweet, if a little ditzy, but felt love and pain and death and life like any other human. The novel's last lines were true; in the society that Remus lived in, he was not considered a human being and would not be given employment or education or happiness.

On Sunday the twenty-eighth of May, the full moon ripped through his muscles and tore through his bone and left him a bloody mess for that Monday morning. The Shrieking Shack was the only place where Fawkes did not follow him into, and disappeared for the night and returned the next morning. Thankfully, it was Defence Against the Dark Arts first thing in the morning (Tacey was still missing) so he was able to hide from his friends and go to the Room of Requirement.

Archie was walking again, wings flapping feebly, but the infection had spread, green veining along a purple underbelly in a grotesque spider web. His steps were unsteady and slow and there was a pool of vomit in the same area that Remus had cleaned up last time. The cage stood silvery and colossal and Archie looked small, childlike again.

Teary-eyed, Remus turned to Fawkes, who looked uncertain and sad. "I don't suppose you're going to cry, are you?"

But Remus already knew the answer as he looked into Fawkes's face.

 _No_. _I will not_.


	16. Fight, Fright and Flight

"Oh, monsters are scared," said Lettie. "That's why they're monsters."

 _\- The Ocean at the End of the Lane, Neil Gaiman_

* * *

In years to come, Remus would never quite remember how he managed to get through studying for his exams when he half expected Archie to drop dead any minute. Yet as the days crept by and Remus had fleeting visits to the dying dragon, he noticed how the nasty infection spreading inside Archie. Despite this, he was walking steadier and even took to short spurts of flying up as high as he could go in his enclosure and then dropping down with an earth-shaking thud. Remus couldn't help but smile at these moments.

"I can't cast a Fire-Lighting charm," said Peter fearfully on Saturday, two days before the first exam. "I'm afraid I'll get burnt. I don't like fire."

Remus smiled. "It's all right, just keep the wand away from anything that could catch flame and you'll be fine."

May appeared in a burst of submitting reports, worksheets and assignments (except the Wiggenweld, which was due in the last week), and even Lily, top of most classes, was feeling overwhelmed.

"Defence Against the Dark Arts is the first exam!" Lily said spontaneously the next day during a quiet afternoon and making Remus jump. She looked quite flustered, hair out and untidy, green eyes frenzied.

"We didn't even have a teacher for almost a month," she said, looking wild. "Do you think we'll be excused if we fail because we didn't have a teacher?"

"Lily–"

But she interrupted. "She didn't even fill the curriculum! I had to learn about banshees _myself_. If they ever find her, I hope she's fired. Oh, there's a revision question I'm not sure about, I'll have to go ask Severus."

And she proceeded to scribble furiously on a piece of parchment, probably going to send him an owl even if that was weird seeing as though they were in the same castle. Lily Evans, Remus thought, was weird.

Sirius groaned loudly, as spontaneous as Lily's outburst, and she shot him a rude look. The three of them had agreed to study with one another in the library, much to Sirius and Lily's reluctance due to their dislike of one another.

" _Remus_ ," Sirius said dramatically, lying back in his couch. "I simply cannot read anymore. My eyes have long since lost their ability to see."

Remus merely raised his eyebrows. "Have you recently read a dictionary, or a thesaurus? It's nice to see you're reading _something_."

Sirius grinned and passed him a book, open to a text about banshees. "Can you read this out loud to me?"

"Fine," Remus said and took it. " 'Banshees have a very closely related genetic ancestor to wizards, which allows them to breed with one another. Banshees have a very rudimentary form of magic, much like hags and trolls. It is unknown if half-banshees are able to cast proper wizard magic because there are no half-banshees known to exist. Banshees also …' "

And Remus went on reading, fully aware that Sirius was not listening to Remus talk at all, but rather was staring at him.

On the first of May, a Monday, was the first-year's first exam. James expressed his desire to join the giant squid in the lake instead of attending school. Fawkes was not let into any of the exam classrooms, and Remus felt sorry for the bird, who would not be distracted by words on paper and would have to wait outside doing nothing.

The written papers were held in a swelteringly hot classroom. The first-years all had to swap their normal quills for special ones with Anti-Cheating spells on them. The theory lasted all week, testing them on the difference between Gytrashes and dogs, the incantations of various spells, transformation formulae, myths tied to different potions. He felt he passed most of the written papers, for writing and reading was his joy.

Remus felt less happy about the practical exam. While he did manage to make a pineapple tap-dance across a desk, and even made it do a fast-paced ronde, he felt that his astronomy chart was subpar and if he had more time he could fix it.

He did manage to Transfigure a couch into a handsome eagle for Professor McGonagall's test, and watched James's couch turn into a magnificent peacock and Peter's into a choking pigeon.

Slughorn, forever the humourist, made them try and remember how to brew a Forgetfulness Potion (though Remus did not achieve the same light blue as Lily, who was praised by the teacher over Severus's obviously better potion, he thought he did all right.)

The last exam was obviously the most boring one, History of Magic. One hour of answering questions about tedious goblin rebellions and political disagreements, and then they were set free, waves of students pouring out of classroom doors. Remus couldn't help but join in with all the cheering, Fawkes zooming after him.

James literally jumped for joy, hooting at the top of his lungs, much to Lily's disapproval. The first-years all made their way out of the castle and into the grounds, basking in the sunlight and chatting excitedly about plans for the summer holidays. Mary McDonald and Alice Prewett were talking to one another happily, and Remus saw Marlene McKinnon's blonde hair shine in the sun as she bounded over to them. Remus felt warm inside out, happy that the exams were finally over, a week of wonderful freedom until the results came out.

Everybody looked quite glad, except for Lily who was under the shade of some tree, brooding and writing furiously on a piece of parchment.

"Do you know where Severus is?" said Remus as he approached her. Fawkes followed. "I can't see him with everyone else in our year."

"Sev is collecting ingredients for a really advanced potion he's brewing, he just that said he's coming back soon," Lily said, with no indication how Severus had just said that.

"Really?" Remus said, intrigued. "What potion?"

"I don't know," Lily admitted. "But he told me that it's really hard, but he did it so quick. The only thing is that he needs something to do with a dragon to complete it, but dragons are so rare. So that's why he was so excited when he heard there was a dragon coming to the school, you know? He's been trying to find it all year."

Remus felt sure Archie was safe from Severus's greasy hands, but promised to go down to the Room anyways tonight to see he was all right. Lily was rambling, and her eyes were sad.

"Are you okay?" Remus asked quietly, sitting down beside her. "You don't look too happy that exams are over."

"I am happy," she said, smiling, and nudged Remus. "It's just, I'm worried, you know? With everything that's going on…"

"Like what?" said Remus.

"You know, with the exams and stuff," she said and her tone turned dark, "but also with You-Know-Who and the followers, and Muggleborn stuff and–"

But she was stopped by James shouting, "Ooh! Look, Remus and Lily are together, in the _dark_. Evans and Lupin sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"

Lily got up, furious. "He's just my friend! How old are you? And we're not even sitting _in_ the tree, we're sitting under it."

"Lily, don't," Remus said, and she grudgingly sat down again.

"I don't see how you can be friends with him," Lily said grumpily.

"I know you don't see," Remus said kindly, "but you should at least try to."

"He hates me!"

"He likes you, so that's why he teases you," said Remus.

"It's not right," she said quickly. "Not at all."

"I know."

"I hate boys."

Remus yawned and sat back, leaning against the dark oak under the shade. "Sometimes, I do too." The sight of Lily's fire-red hair reminded him of something. "Oh, Lily, there's something I've been meaning to tell you."

"Oh, is this where you confess your deep love to me and you reveal that you really _would_ like to be K-I-S-S-I-N-G in a tree?" Lily said mildly.

Remus laughed. "No, actually, I'm friends with a dragon…"

He had been meaning to tell Lily for ages, because she was kind like Peter, accepting like Sirius and enthusiastic like James. She would understand, and she would find it exciting, but she would not be like Tacey, putting hand into flame, and would cleverly devise a plan to help Archie. Maybe, with her help, she could coax tears out of Fawkes, or _something_. He had waited until after the distraction of exams had been over, worried about overexerting the already-overwhelmed Lily.

He retold of how Lily had recommended him to the Room of Requirement, of how Archie had once been a fireball of energy, screeching and blasting flame at non-flammable cages. As her face grew into one of surprise and shock, he told her how, as Archie grew in size, illness and cuts took him over, and how Remus spent weeks brewing and researching but nothing helped. He talked of the _real_ reason Fawkes was tailing Remus around everywhere. He expressed how he had been unable to make Fawkes cry. He told her of how close he had become with the dragon over the school year. He told her everything.

He expected Lily to hug him, to tell it was all right, to tell him determinedly that she would help him, but anything she would have said or done was cast aside by a greasy haired kid jumping out of his hiding place behind the tree trunk, saying, "AHA!"

"Sev, hi!" Lily said, looking panicky. "Whatever you heard, please don't do anything rash."

"So, _you've_ been hoarding the dragon the whole year!" Severus said loudly, ignoring Lily, pointing accusatively at Remus. "You're the one, ha! How ironic."

"Severus, I haven't been hoarding anything. What do you mean, ironic?"

"You, the worst potion-maker in the world, gifted with meeting the best potion ingredient giver in the world," Severus said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Dragon blood, dragon hide, dragon claw, the things I could make with a dragon!"

"Archie is not a tree whose fruit you can pick off," said Remus boldly.

"It has a name?"

"Yes, it does."

"You're crazy," Severus said, laughing snidely and walking away with a bounce in his step ("Severus," Lily moaned.) "Whatever."

"Where are you going?" Remus asked, beginning to stand up to face him.

"To the Room of Requirement, of course," Severus said, glee lighting up his face. "I should have guessed the dragon was in there."

"Don't you dare." Remus was not only worried for the welfare of Archie, but also of Severus, who was sure to do something stupid.

Severus sneered. "It's not like the dragon's yours or something." Inside, Remus said _It is_ , and he would have said it out loud too as well if Severus had not broken into a sprint into the castle doors.

Remus followed, Lily calling after him. Fawkes was quick to follow. His feet slapped against the floor as he pushed people chatting after exams out of the way, the greasy-haired figure speeding far ahead of him. He was never any good at running, but neither was Severus, so as they reached up the stairs, Remus was close, and he grabbed hold of Severus's robes.

"Please – think – harder!" Remus said as they struggled. "It's a full grown dragon, Severus, it'll _burn_ you."

Severus snarled, lifting his leg and using it to push Remus back as the two almost toppled off the staircase. "I'm not stupid."

"I beg to differ," was on the tip of Remus's tongue, if not for the cry of " _Flipendo_!" and the flash of light. Remus was knocked back and he hurtled down, his ribs and legs and arms hitting the stairs in places that would leave bruises and cuts. He didn't care. Fawkes perched on the step next to him. Remus expected him to be crying, but instead the phoenix was cawing, encouraging him. Remus could tell exactly what Fawkes was saying. _Get up, get up!_

Breathless and bloodied, he clutched his leg and rose, watching Severus round the corner of the Seventh Floor corridor into the left one. He staggered up the steps as fast as his legs could take him and when he reached the top steps he used the wall to steady himself. Fawkes flew ahead of him, cheering him to go further. _Faster!_

Severus was already there, staring at the wall with a calculating stare. He walked thrice and the wall opened up into the Room Remus knew so well. Remus tripped into the Room half a minute later and awkwardly hopped to reach Severus. Fawkes had already flown in and was perching on the bars of the cage.

Severus stared at Archie with the same fascination and intrigue as Tacey once had, but instead of delight and wonderment, there was greed on Severus's face. This was the moment when Remus began to be scared of Severus, with his predatory stare. Remus thought of Archie as almost a human being, like how he considered Fawkes; Severus thought of Archie as almost a bag of ingredients.

"Severus," Remus wheezed. "Please, just leave, don't go near Archie!"

Severus snarled and pushed Remus further away. He heard Fawkes let out a squawk of rage. "Go away, Lupin, you've had enough time to play with your pet, it's mine now."

"He's … not … my … pet," Remus said, crawling closer.

Severus ignored him. "Why is it so sick? God, have you been feeding it some of your potions? Whatever, the Draught of Living Death doesn't specify whether the dragon needs to be in good health."

To Remus's horror, the Room must have been bending to Severus's will, for the cage around Archie completely disappeared.

"Severus, don't."

Fawkes flew higher into the air. Archie did not seem to notice his confines vanishing and instead still just padded around, leathery wings flapping.

"A scale of a dragon," Severus said, and a knife popped into existence in his hand.

"No!" Remus shouted but Severus was already nearing the moving dragon. "He'll get hurt and see you, and you'll _die_!"

He saw Fawkes fly and inspect Remus, and even saw tears brimming in black eyes, but Remus did not care, because _Severus was going to die._ Even faster, ignoring the trail of blood his movements were making, he crawled to Severus.

Severus was a hair's breadth from the dragon's tail and in one swift motion of silver blade and pale hand, a chunk of hide had been cut off and released a fresh flow of blood.

Archie roared and rose up into the air like a frightened horse. Severus yelled in surprise and staggered back. Archie spotted Severus and his throat radiated brilliant gold and orange.

In this moment, Remus knew. Remus knew why people considered dragons so awe-inspiring and terrifying. It was not for the beautiful black or the pretty purple of Hebridean Blacks. It was not for the claws from four feet, hooked and long and sharp.

It was for the moment before they breathed fire, before they used their most deadly tool. Archie, reared back, sinewy wings beating up and down, eyes flaring brilliant purple, fire from throat so bright that it glowed through flesh.

Severus, caught up in the spectacle, only stood there. But Remus jumped into action, yanking Severus down just in time to evade the steady stream of flames. After what seemed like an hour of fire blistering Remus just from the closeness of it, it stopped and Remus dared look up at Archie, who suddenly looked small and little again, who lost his rage and flame and was now emitting smoke from his nostril.

Quiet. Then: "It's a monster!" Severus shrieked. "It shouldn't be in a school!"

Archie rumbled from the sudden noise, shifting and moving his feet around.

"Shut up," hissed Remus, and then louder, he said, "Archie?"

The dragon perked up, obviously recognising his name. Remus stood up, ignoring blisters and bruises and blood and only focusing on the dragon, _his_ dragon.

"Archie," Remus said, his face melting into a smile. How ugly he must have looked, soot and cuts and gore, but it would be so much better if he embraced his friend.

Archie padded closer–

A jet of light soared across the room and hit Archie in the face. Remus whipped his head around and saw Severus's outstretched hand and wand. "Conjunctivitis Curse," whispered Severus. "It was getting too close."

Remus's heart fell. "No!"

But Archie, blinded, was thrashing around and stumbling and Remus was suddenly struck by how small the Room was. He had only looked over the medicines and bandages once or twice, and they had never been much other than decoration. But it was sad to see shelves upon shelves topple and burn and fall to the ground as Archie's destruction resounded through the Room. Debris fell like rain and the whole of Hogwarts seemed to shake.

"Get out!" yelled Remus. Severus ran for his life and with the help of Fawkes, Remus got out too.

But so did Archie.

Outside the Room stood Peter and Lily, both waiting patiently outside. They both looked startled as Severus sped off in directions unknown and looked even more shocked when Remus and Fawkes hurtled into the two of them, screaming.

"What happened?" Lily shrieked. The sound of ruination echoed even into the Seventh Floor. "I came up here looking for you, and Peter wanted to talk to you about the test–!"

"Severus let the dragon go," Remus moaned. "And then he darted off."

"Well, the dragon can't get out, can it?" Peter asked, terrified.

"I don't think so," Remus said as the dragon got out.

The wall exploded, Archie's claws coming out first, and then the whole foot. Archie's head was forced through the wall and a ton of brick fell away. From his mouth was flame, obviously sparked from its fear.

Remus, Lily, Peter and Fawkes tumbled away from the wall as fast as they could, but not before Archie, sightless, erupted out of the Room of Requirement, a dust-covered beast spewing fire in every direction. The dragon's fire blasted rock and wall and brick out of the way as he rammed its way out of the Room. There was screaming and chaos and running and wreckage everywhere. Some people were trapped in rubble.

"Call Dumbledore!" someone yelled.

Marlene, in her desperate attempt to dig Mary out of her trap, had her hair burnt and she ran around shrieking as it reached her face. Lily rushed to her aid.

Archie was rolling around, thrashing wildly, but it was such a confined space he could not move around that much. He was so heavy that he broke through the seventh floor and crashed into the sixth. Remus watched in horror as Archie's flame became directed towards where Remus and Peter were standing.

"I don't like fire," Peter had once admitted.

Now, Peter threw up his hands to shield his face from the conflagration coming towards him. Because of this, flame made in contact with his hands and Peter began to shriek in pain.

Melting rock and flaming tapestries, paintings singed and statues liquefied. Teachers were rushing into the scene, and then there was Dumbledore shouting a spell, sending Archie to sleep. However, it sank even lower and Remus heard more crashing as Archie fell down even more floors.

Remus could hear other people shrieking, but was only focused on getting water for Peter's blackened, hunk of hands. He cast a look around and saw the phoenix.

Fawkes was crying.


	17. Ursula Harker

"The devil wears high heels."

 _\- The Devil Wears High Heels, Gert Strydom_

* * *

"Dragon-shaped holes in five floors," the Ministry witch went on coldly, "over a hundred casualties, masonry ruined, the destruction of the whole seventh floor, and prestigious paintings and statues lasting in the school for centuries burned to a crisp. Tell me: _who is responsible_?"

The first-years were unresponsive. Fawkes made no sound as he flew around the crowd. Then James, of course James, Remus thought, shot his hand up and without being asked, said, "Why us? Why not the other years?"

She looked at him with an unfriendly glare. "Of course we are interrogating other years, in other places. But that is not important. _Which one of you is responsible for this mess_? Who set the dragon free, who thought it would be a funny joke for a Hebridean Black to run loose around the school?"

The night before, Hogwarts had been a flaming, fragmented ruin due to the blinded Archie's uncontrollability. Teachers had been rushed to the scene and Dumbledore had finally managed to send the dragon to sleep, but not before half of the castle had been wrecked. The Ministry of Magic had been summoned to take Archie temporarily away into the Forbidden Forest to decide what to do with him. Some people, including Marlene and Peter, had been sent to St. Mungo's Hospital due to their severe injuries. That morning, after the Gryffindors had slept in the Great Hall because of the destruction of their tower, the first-years had been summoned to the Courtyard where a witch from the Ministry interrogated all of them at once. Two big, burly men, also from the Ministry, stood beside the tall, beautiful lady whose long nails tapped impatiently against her face. Professor McGonagall supervised this with a thin expression on her white face.

Of course Remus knew who really was the one who released the dragon, looking at Severus a little ways away. But was Remus considered a perpetrator? Should he raise his hand and confess? Peter knew too, but his hands were to be healed at St. Mungo's and wouldn't be back for a while. So the only other person was Lily, who stood next to him, stony-faced.

"How do you even know it's a student?" James spoke out again.

"Because students were reported running from where the dragon broke out of its prison," the Ministry witch replied. Remus knew exactly which students they were. Then the witch said in a dangerous tone, "So tell me, which one of you is responsible?"

Silence. The Ministry witch made an impatient noise.

Then: "It was me."

Lily Evans stepped forward from where she had been standing next to Remus. "I did it, I set the dragon free."

"Lily," Remus hissed but the witch from the Ministry looked positively delighted.

"It was a mistake, you see, I've been visiting the dragon for the whole year now," Lily continued smoothly. "I wanted to inspect it closer, I've been meaning to for a while now."

Professor McGonagall was wide-eyed. Severus looked stunned too. Guilt curdled within Remus, but he did not interrupt or speak up. The Ministry witch walked towards Lily, her high heels clacking in the silence, her two colleagues following her. When she got close, she leaned down and put her pretty face right next to Lily's and spoke quietly.

"So. You were the foolish person who freed the dragon from its cage."

"Yes," Lily lied simply.

"You were the one who caused one hundred and thirty five injuries and a dozen near-deaths."

"Yes."

"You were the one who did not confess earlier, who let people live in fear of terrorists and criminals inside the school."

"That's the one," said Lily, who could not help herself.

The Ministry witch's face looked very scary when she was angry. "I think we'll have you pay a very large fine in Galleons."

"I don't have any," Lily said, almost proudly.

At this, the witch was taken aback. "What do you mean, you don't have any Galleons?"

"I mean that I don't have a Gringotts vault, and that I have Galleons."

The witch's lip curled. "And tell me, what is your parentage?"

It was Lily's turn to be taken aback. "What?"

"What is your blood status?"

"I don't … I don't understand," she said.

"You stupid girl," the witch hissed. "Are your parents wizards? Muggles?"

"Th-They're both Muggles."

The Ministry witch exchanged a knowing glance with her two co-workers.

"Well, I think we know what to do," she said. "Take her away. We're going to take her into Care."

Remus frowned. A minute ago she had said a fine was satisfactory, but the mention of Lily's Muggle parents had changed the Ministry witch's decisions. What did being a Muggle have to do with anything?

But Professor McGonagall had stalked over. "Ursa, you cannot possibly do this! She is only twelve, and she is not an orphan, she has parents."

Ursa the Ministry witch curled her lip at Professor McGonagall using her name. "My name is Ursula, don't call me by that! And I can, and I will. Children like that should not be allowed in places where other people are. Care is the only option."

Professor McGonagall made an impatient noise. "I don't know why you deplore the use of your full name, little girl. Plus, Lily only said that she accidentally let the dragon out of its cage, she did not confess to intentionally letting it run wild. She does well in school, she is well mannered. I can give you her reports, exam results. She does not misbehave."

"School marks do not reflect on how a child behaves," Ursa hissed.

"Just because you did bad in school!"

They glared at each other, tension thick.

"Hogwarts seems to be in even worse condition than I thought, especially the staffing," Ursa said conversationally. "The school inspection is happening soon. I'll make sure I have a hand in the result."

"Blatant corruption," flared up McGonagall. "If you dare influence the Inspector to give the school an unfair mark, then the education of thousands of students will be lost! Don't you dare!"

All these words were unknown to Remus. Inspector? Corruption? Unfair marks?

"Are you threatening me? Are _you_ threatening _me_? I hope you aren't, for your sake," she said coldly and added as an afterthought, "No adult has ever been through Care before, but I can make sure that it happens."

"What's Care?" Remus heard people ask.

Remus knew, because he had almost been through it himself. Care was a system issued by the Ministry of Magic for orphans, children of criminals, badly behaved children and children in other uncompromising positions. Such as being a werewolf.

But Care was not kind. It was full of the discarded, the broken, the unneeded. Remus had seen kids from the Care centres; they were angry-eyed, scratched, uncared-for and sad. He had never actually been inside a Care centre but had heard rumours of harsh punishments, of little food and of sleeping on floors. He was lucky to have not been given up by his parents, when so many other parents with lycanthrope children would have.

"Take her away," Ursa said. "To the Forbidden Forest."

Lily suddenly looked scared. "What?"

Ursa seemed to delight in her fear. "We've set up a little … _camp_ in the Forest, just in case we found the little criminal responsible for this mess. We'll have to ask you a few more questions, then you'll be sent off to Care."

Lily breathed in and steeled herself and then followed the two big Ministry workers. Ursa followed, but not before she had glowered at Professor McGonagall and looked at the crowd of children like they were pieces of dirt.

After moments of silence, Professor McGonagall cleared her throat. "Off you go, all of you!" They all cleared off, muttering darkly about how rude that Ursa witch had been and Lily.

"Hey, Remus, wait up!" Sirius called.

"Sorry, Sirius, I have to do something," Remus said, speeding off.

Sirius's face fell.

Remus knew his first concern should have been Lily's welfare, and he _was_ concerned about her, guilt and remorse twisting in his gut, but his first thought was _Archie_. Fawkes followed him hurriedly as he rushed off to the only place where he knew he would get answers, and it wasn't the library.

As he ran up the stairs to the third floor, he noticed something strange. Wizards, all in the same uniform, were stationed outside most of the bigger doors, like the entrance of the Great Hall, and to the Grand Staircase. Their wands were out, but they did not look like they were doing any magic. They all stood still, looking disdainfully at Remus and the other students as they walked past. Remus guessed they were guards issued by the Ministry of Magic, but why? What was there to protect? Were they there for another purpose?

Thankfully, Dumbledore's office was not guarded by anything except the usual. The gargoyle in front of Dumbledore's office met Remus with the same enthusiasm as it had last time.

"Oi, what do you want?" it asked him.

"Please, I need to get into the office," said Remus. "It's about my friend, I need to ask if he's okay."

"Sorry kid, can't let you in without the password," the gargoyle said.

"C'mon," Remus said.

"Nope."

Remus thought for a bit. Then: "This is your job, yeah?"

The gargoyle stared at him beadily. "Yes, it is."

"You don't get paid very much, do you?" Remus had no idea what a gargoyle would do with money.

The gargoyle agreed. "As a matter of fact, I don't! Seventeen Galleons a week! Rip-off, I say."

"Tell you what," said Remus. "I'll go up there to Dumbledore and ask him to give you a pay raise along with everything else I have to say."

The gargoyle was suspicious. "Hmm."

" _And_ a new pedestal. That one's pretty old."

"Fine," the gargoyle said and hopped aside to reveal the circular, stone staircase leading into the headmaster's office. "Ten more Galleons!" it yelled after him as he entered the staircase.

He reached the big, oak door and pulled it open. The perch on the side was empty again, because Fawkes was now flying in and had landed on Remus's shoulder. Inside was the familiar office, with the instruments and knick-knacks and the large table in the centre. At it, Dumbledore sat.

"Hello, Remus," he said kindly. "Hello, Fawkes. Sit down, please. What do I owe the pleasure?"

"I need to know if Archie's okay," Remus said, sitting down and then cringing because of how forceful he had come across. "Sorry. I mean, I would like to know if Archie's all right."

"Understandable," Dumbledore said serenely. "Unfortunately, I have no way of knowing that."

Remus's heart beat even faster. "Why not?"

"You see, Remus, I am not the one or the one in control of holding Archie in captivity in the Forest," the Professor said. "You saw the guards stationed at many doors? They are from the Ministry of Magic. Professor McGonagall told me of how you saw that nasty-tempered official, Ursula Harker? She is from the Ministry. I am afraid that the Ministry has decided that I am incompetent and have since decided to instate some of its people here at Hogwarts, at least for a little while."

"So you don't know anything about how Archie is," Remus said, a little annoyed. What was the great, all-knowing Professor good for if he didn't know something important?

"No, I do not," Dumbledore said. "I do know however that the Archimedes is being held in place by strong abestine cuffs."

"What?"

"Abestine is the metal that also made up the cage Archimedes had been held in before," he said. "Have I told you about it?"

"Yes, you have–"

"It is impervious to flame, cannot burn," he continued, "but funnily enough, it dissolves in the coldest acid in the world."

"OK," Remus said shortly, not really caring. This wasn't important at all. It didn't tell him if Archie was still dying, how the Ministry would treat Archie, and if they would cure his infection. But why would they do that if they were planning to kill him?

Fawkes squawked, breaking the silence that had spread.

"It _is_ important, you know," Dumbledore said, as if he had read his mind, "if you wanted to, oh, I don't know, _rescue_ your friend Archimedes. Of course, you would be breaking a hundred school rules and I insist on you not doing so." But there was a twinkle in his eye.

Remus understood. "I won't do it, sir, of course, but if I _did_ , theoretically, then I would need some way to get around all those guards and stuff. I don't have any means of doing that, sneaking around."

"Maybe you don't," Dumbledore said, smiling. "But perhaps your _friends_ do."

"I don't understand, sir."

"Some of your friends have been hiding secrets for a while, yes?" Dumbledore said.

He thought of James sneaking around and Lily's talking with Severus. "Yeah…"

"Maybe, if you discover those secrets, they can help you," he said mysteriously.

"OK…" Remus said, not understanding at all. "Oh, and, uh, Severus was the one who set Archie free. Not Lily."

"I know," Dumbledore said.

"You do?" Remus's eyes widened. Then he could stop Lily from going into Care!

"But I cannot do anything about it," Dumbledore said. Remus bit his lip. Why not? "The Ministry of Magic is like a Hippogriff once it has taken a downhill flight; it finds it hard to change direction."

"So, I can't do anything about Lily going into Care," Remus said, angry.

"I did not say that."

"What can I do?" Remus asked, desperate.

"The Ministry's view of Archimedes is a wild, uncontrollable beast, you cannot change that," Dumbledore said. "But Lily is a witch, and only a little girl. She is redeemable. She can remain in the society, if circumstance allows. Ursula is the radical example of punishing children."

"You know her?"

"She went to this school," Dumbledore said, "but did not like it very much, as she got poor marks regularly and had not many friends. Even as a youngster, she hated the other children. As she has grown up and gotten a place in the Ministry, her hatred for children, or for Hogwarts, never evaporated. I really do hope she does not have any sway over the Inspector, for Hogwarts will not be running for very long."

"What's the Inspector?"

Dumbledore grimaced. "The Inspector is a Ministry of Magic official who, every decades, stays at Hogwarts for a whole school year for the school inspection. At the end of the year, he gives the school marks, and if it is satisfactory, Hogwarts can continue to run."

"When's the next inspection?"

"Three years, but that is not important. What is important is making it look like _Archie_ is the one rescuing Lily, or at least the one causing enough chaos for you to save Lily while the wizards holding her captive are distracted."

"What? Why Archie?"

"You've read _The Sea and the Song_ , I believe?" Remus nodded. "Then you will be familiar with the final sentence. Archie is a dragon, not a human being, and is not given a second chance. Lily, in our world, is given a second chance even when she has done nothing wrong."

"But will happen to Archie after we _use_ him?"

"He will be released into the wild to fend for himself."

Remus made an outraged noise. "No! He's only a baby. He can't survive by himself. How will he find food?"

"He is a full-grown dragon."

" _I'm_ the one who feeds him," Remus protested. " _I_ give him medicines, _I_ make sure he's all right, he's never been in the wild for a second of his life!"

Dumbledore said. "Remus–"

"You could keep him in the Room of Requirement again," Remus said, rapidly thinking. "I could still take care of him there."

"Then I would be a known criminal," Dumbledore said, "and it is not my own welfare I am thinking about. The whole school would be taken over by the Ministry, and very early, and very long inspection, if you will, which would not only be detrimental to Hogwarts but also distract the Ministry to the bigger problem right now: Lord Voldemort."

Remus flinched, but did not hesitate to continue his tirade. "Archie won't be safe by himself."

"So we keep the dragon and let Lily live by herself in the Forest. I see," Dumbledore said, nodding.

"You're not making sense," Remus said, crossing his arms.

"I am," insisted Dumbledore. "I believe that if Archimedes assists you in helping Lily and then escapes, the Ministry will be much more interested in apprehending a full-grown dragon then disciplining a twelve year old."

Remus did not agree at all, so he said, "What if the Ministry does catch him? Then what?"

"I will make sure that does not happen," the Professor said. "What I cannot make sure of is that you will comply and make sure that both Archimedes and Lily are safe."

Remus was determined to find some loophole in Dumbledore's plan, but not before Dumbledore spoke again, but not to him.

"How are you, Fawkes?" Dumbledore asked the phoenix. "Is Remus treating you all right?"

"If you wanted to know that, you shouldn't have given him to me," Remus said bitingly.

"Well, you know," said Dumbledore, his eyes sparkling and head cocked to the side, "people get crazy over their pets sometimes."

This rubbed Remus the wrong way and he got up from his seat. Fawkes flew from Dumbledore and towards Remus. He made his way towards the door.

"Goodbye, Remus, Fawkes," Dumbledore said as he left.

"Oh, and, your gargoyle wants a pay raise. And a new pedestal," Remus said and slammed the door.

His thoughts ran wild as he stalked back to Gryffindor Tower. How could that man even _think_ that he would leave Archie to fend for himself? Even now, Remus was getting worried about how the Ministry wizards were treating Archie. Most of all, Remus was getting antsy about the horrible infection. It had looked like Archie was going to die anytime soon the last Remus saw him.

Back in Gryffindor Tower, Remus paced around the Common Room for ages, ignoring James's and Sirius's calls. Eventually, they went to bed but Remus stayed beside the fireplace. Even Fawkes fell asleep on the couch. Finally deciding to do something useful, he crept into his dormitory and got out his potion things.

His Wiggenweld Potion was close to finishing. All he had to do was add one more spoonful of salamander blood and stir until it was green, and then pour some into a vial and he was done.

So he did just that, stirring and stirring with a rod. He got a vial and poured some Wiggenweld into it, but there was no satisfaction or sense of accomplishment. He put the potion safely in his dorm and was packing up his supplies until a sound from the entrance made him stop. It was muffled talking.

"…let me in, you old hag! _Flabbergast_ , _flabbergast_ , _flabbergast_ …" said a voice.

"…not the password anymore, young lady…" the Fat Lady said.

Remus approached the door as the two voices argued even more.

"…they're going to find me if you don't let me in, please…"

"…it is not the password, we changed it…"

"…just let me go in this one time, please, I need to tell my friend something important…"

Remus yanked the door open and there was Lily, white-faced and terrified.

She hurtled into his arms. "Thank you! Oh, my God! There are so many things I need to tell you."

"Whoa, whoa! Why are you here Lily, I thought you were in the Forbidden Forest?"

"I was," she whispered as she closed the door. "But I escaped from them, and this was the only place where I knew I could hide."

" _Lily_ ," Remus said. "You'll be in big trouble! You shouldn't have come here." He saw her scared expression and his voice softened. "But I'm glad you're okay."

"They're taking me away, I think they're going to kill me," she confided quietly, tears streaming down her face. "It's because my parents are Muggles, I heard them talking. They're going to make an example, and that Ursa person doesn't want You-Know-Who to kill her, so she's showing that she agrees with him."

"That makes no sense," Remus said. Lily nodded vigorously. Then she saw his worried expression.

"Why are you awake at nine? You usually sleep at eight o'clock," Lily asked, suddenly her old observant, questioning self returning. "Are you all right?"

"I, uh, was thinking about Archie," Remus said and then explained a bit about how he and Dumbledore had discussed rescuing Archie, but Dumbledore had wanted Archie to fend for himself in the wild.

"But how are you going to get him with all the Ministry guards around every entrance?" Lily asked. "I barely did, but I stayed in the boy's bathroom and none of them thought that I would hide in there."

"Well, Dumbledore said that my friends were keeping secrets and that I could help Archie with them …" Remus said, not understanding. "You said you had something you wanted to tell me?"

"Uh, the thing is…"

"Yes? What is it, Lily?"

"Well, about a week ago, I was following James around, and I saw him about to sneak around by throwing on an Invisibility Cloak around him."

Remus's eyes bulged. "He has an–?"

"Shh," she said. "Yes, he does, and we had a whole talk, and I agreed not to tell anyone, but this is important."

"OK, whoa, so that's how he misses class?"

"He doesn't actually most of the time. He just plays pranks on people in the middle of class and they can't blame him because it doesn't even look like he's there."

Remus thought of missing quills, Lily's hair being yanked by an unseen force, and it all made sense.

"Damn," he said. "What about you?"

"Huh?"

"What have you been hiding? How have you been talking to Severus?"

"What? Oh…" Lily said. "It's a two-way parchment, we write on our own particular parchment and our words appear on the other one's, so we can have conversations."

"Wow," Remus said. "But that's not even that bad? Why've you been hiding it for so long?"

"Because we talk about private things," Lily said, blushing furiously. "In any case, the parchment won't help you too much. You said you needed to make an acid cold and strong enough to destroy the metal? Severus can help you, but you only need to ask him politely. I know he'll help, he's really nice."

Remus disagreed, but nodded nevertheless.

"It'll be really hard, you know," Lily said as an afterthought. "I mean, even if you can convince James to let you use the Invisibility Cloak, and if you convince Severus to brew the acid, what are you going to do with Archie? Isn't he dying of his injury?"

"I don't know," Remus admitted.

As he said this, the door to Gryffindor Tower exploded. Both students shouted and shielded their eyes and when the light disappeared, there was Ursula Harker, wand out, looking triumphant.

"Ha, there you are!" she said, standing tall and proud in her high heels. "I found you. You are a _very naughty girl_ –"

"Lily, get out of here!" Remus yelled. At a loss of spells and incantations in his head, he got his vials and threw one at Ursa. It missed, but shattered on the wall behind her. Remus threw another.

"Stop!" Ursa yelled, deflecting the glass with a shield she conjured up. "Stop it now!"

She shrieked as one almost hit her. She wildly cast hexes in every direction, light exploding off every wall. Lily ducked and attempted to escape but a jet of light from Ursa's wand immobilised her, and she stood still, shock on her face.

Remus continued throwing vials at her and when they ran out, tipped his cauldron over with a heave. The green potion poured out and in her high heels, Ursa slipped over.

"Ha!" Remus shouted. "Lily, run!"

Lily could only stand still, due to Ursa's spell, and Remus attempted to push her away. Ursa got up unsteadily, and her hex hit Remus's face. He fell to the floor in pain, blood pouring from a cut down his left cheek. He could not move.

Breathing heavily, Ursa neared the two Gryffindors. She was furious. "You, come with me," she said to Lily and floated her above with a flick of her wand. Lily was still and terrified. "And, _you_ ," she hissed, looking at Remus on the floor, "you scum. I would take you into Care with the little wench here but I have too many things on my hands at the moment. Have fun with your scar on your face."

Ursa left, Remus rolling awkwardly on the floor. But he did not stay there for long, and as soon as the hex's effect subsided, got up and walked to the boys dormitory, ready to check whether James had an Invisibility Cloak after all.


	18. The Cloak and the Crone

"Harry looked down at his feet, but they had gone. He dashed to the mirror. Sure enough, his reflection looked back at him, just his head suspended in mid-air, his body completely invisible. He pulled the Cloak over his head and his reflection vanished completely."

 _\- Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, J.K. Rowling_

* * *

The sleeping boys were hard to wake up. But with the combined effort of Fawkes's squawking and Remus's shoving, James woke up, swearing loudly.

"It's the middle of the night," James groaned. "What the bloody hell do you want?"

Remus smiled grimly. "I'm going on a rescue mission."

James insisted on waking Sirius up too, so they did. Sirius was grumpy as well when James and Remus pushed him awake, but he immediately jumped up when he saw Remus's face. His expression was full of concern.

"What happened to your cheek?" Sirius asked. Remus had a few scars from his transformation on his arms, but never on his face until now. Sirius lifted a hand to touch Remus's cheek. Remus slapped it away but liked the feeling of Sirius caring for him.

"Ursa – remember that Ministry official? – she gave it to me," replied Remus.

Sirius made a sound of mingled anger and shock.

Remus began explaining what had happened since the start of the year when he had first seen Archie, and how he had healed, helped and befriended the dragon. How Severus had set Archie into a frenzy and destroyed half the school. How Lily had taken the blame. How Dumbledore had discussed a plan that Remus would not follow. How Ursa had taken Lily when she had hid in Gryffindor Tower and gave Remus a scar. How he was now going to ask James for his Invisibility Cloak.

"Well," Remus demanded. "Can I?"

James looked reluctant. "My dad gave it to me. He told me to take care of it."

Remus said, "If everything goes well, then you'll have it back tonight."

James hesitated once more, before reaching into his trunk and pulling out a fluid-like, gossamer cloak and handing it to Remus.

Remus thanked him and slid it over himself. He was surprised still, when his body disappeared underneath the material. He was invisible.

"Well, bye," Remus said. "I'm going to go to Severus now and ask him to make the acid for me."

"Wait, hold on," Sirius said, frowning. "You're not going by yourself."

"What?" said Remus. "Yes, I am. This is my problem, and I'm going to fix it by myself."

"What about Lily? You're rescuing her too, right? She's our friend," James said, and when Remus raised his eyebrows, he amended, "Well, not really. But she's our classmate too, and you're our friend. Of course we're going to help you."

"Guys," Remus said. "I don't want you guys getting in trouble."

"We already get in trouble enough every day," Sirius said dismissively. "We don't care."

"You could go into Care."

"Well, if we go into Care, at least we go into it together."

Remus gave him a look of mixed appreciation and exasperation.

"The Invisibility Cloak is big enough for all three of us," James said. "Plus Severus would never help you properly. Remember the last time you asked him for help with a potion?"

Remus hated it when James was right. "Oh, all right, fine. But then how are we going to get Severus to help?"

"He only really likes one person that we know, Lily," James said. "But she's the reason we're doing this, so that's useless. Hmm."

A sudden idea popped into his head. "No, it's not! That's brilliant of you, James."

He looked quite mollified.

That was how they found James on the floor at the end of the staircase to the girls' dormitory, looking disgruntled. The staircase had morphed into a slide as soon as James had stepped foot on it and Remus crossed his arms at his bespectacled friend, looking annoyed. Fawkes made a musical sound like laughter.

"I _told_ you," Remus said.

"How did you know?" James said irritably. "Have you been trying to get into the girls rooms lately?"

"I read it in _Hogwarts: A History_ ," said Remus, frowning.

"Well, what else can we do to get up there?" Sirius wondered.

"We can levitate one of you," Remus said thoughtfully.

Sirius and Remus ended up pointing their wands, repeating _Wingardium Leviosa_ as they lifted James up.

"Be careful! Don't let anyone see you," Remus warned. "We don't want to get caught already. It's barely nine o'clock."

"Why couldn't you just levitate me with the cloak on?" James asked as he slowly floated up the staircase. "Then I wouldn't have to be so careful."

"We can't even see you with the cloak on, you idiot," Sirius said.

"Just shut up and find a particular piece of parchment hidden somewhere near Lily's bed," Remus said as James ascended into the dormitory and they dropped their wands. "It's one of the empty ones. Check both. The other one's Marlene's."

Sirius was sniffling.

"Are you cold?" Remus said. "I could get another coat for you?"

"No, I'm fine."

At that moment James slid down and landed roughly at their feet, holding a piece of parchment triumphantly.

"I think Mary saw me, because I heard her screaming, but that's all right, 'cause I got this," James said, brandishing the paper.

Remus snatched it from him and opened it up. Guiltily, he began reading what was written. A long list of recent messages from both Severus and Lily were written down. The uppermost message was Severus writing about homework, and if Lily needed help. Lily's reply was that she did not need help. To Remus, it was just everyday conversation and was nothing personal or embarrassing. The bottom was blank, so that was where Remus began writing with his father's quill.

Lily's handwriting was much neater than Severus's and Remus's, so he found it hard to imitate hers. "Severus? Are you there?" he wrote. The topmost message disappeared from view and the messages shuffled upwards so there was a new blank space underneath for further writing. James and Sirius leaned over to have a closer look.

After waiting a while for Severus's reply, James groaned. "What if the bugger isn't even awake?"

As he said this, black ink began appearing on the paper in Severus's scrawl. Remus gasped, fascinated at the magic. He hadn't really processed this before, but it was magical to watch Severus, far away in his dormitory, and his words appear right before them.

"Lily?" the message read. "I thought you were in Care! Are you OK?"

"Yes, they let me out," Remus wrote. "But I need to tell you something important in our potions classroom now."

"OK, I'm leaving my dorm now," Severus wrote back.

"Quick, quick," Remus said to James and Sirius, throwing the parchment aside. "We need to get there before Severus does!"

* * *

Severus walked into the classroom warily. It was dark, so he peered into the blackness. Cautiously he stepped into it, his wand still in his pocket. "Lily?" he asked before he was attacked from two sides.

"What the–" he yelled as Sirius and James swarmed him, tackling him to the ground. Fawkes lit fire with his wings to several candles in the room, lighting it up brightly. Remus crouched down and slid the wand out of the struggling Severus's pocket, just in case.

Sirius and James pinned him to the ground with his face upward and he stopped floundering, but he glowered and spat at Remus's direction. " _What do you want_?" he snapped. "Is this because of the dragon's hide? Well I've already brewed the Living Death, so ha!"

"It's not because of that," Remus said. "We need you to brew something for us."

" _Never_."

"Severus, we're doing this for Lily."

"She's already gone into Care, and if she hasn't, she's going to soon. There's nothing you can do," Severus said, defeated.

"How can you say that?" James asked, outraged. "Lily's your best friend!"

"Whatever," Remus said, determined to keep everything calm. "I know this is a very awkward and uncomfortable situation, but we need you to brew an acid for us."

"Why should I?" Severus spat.

"We can hurt you into doing what we want," Sirius said simply and Remus shot him an appalled look.

"No, we're not doing that," Remus said. "But we can and will tell Ursa who the real culprit is. Dumbledore knows it's you and I'm sure if we ask him he can back us up. But Ursa won't do much to you, right?"

"Yeah," Sirius said. "Care isn't that bad, right? Three meals a week, no beds, beatings, no education and thrown into the gutters when you become of age."

Severus sent all three of them a look of pure loathing. After seconds of death glares, he said: "Well, if I'm going to brew a potion, I'll have to get up."

"We have three wands pointed at you at all times," James warned as Severus got up.

"Here's the instructions," Remus said and handed him a recipe for the chemical, corrosive substance, nicknamed Arctic Acid. It was in his large, heavy textbook.

So Severus began working, staring at the instructions with ferocity as his skilled hands made work of the bubbling cauldron. He began demanding instruments and things of the three of them.

"Get me a silver stirring rod," Severus said to James. James looked like he was about to protest, but Remus shot him a look and James grudgingly got a rod for Severus.

"A Brumal Branch from the storage cupboards," Severus commanded as they ran off looking for the ingredients. Fawkes helped. "The frozen heart of a Hyperborean Giant. Viper eyes."

Despite himself, Remus couldn't help but be fascinated by Severus's potion making. He was swift with his hands, sharp with his eyes, and precise with his fingers. He poured perfect amounts of unicorn blood and cut chilly chilli quickly and evenly. This was _real_ potion making, Remus thought, not the incompetent, stupid way in class or the entertaining, funny way of Slughorn. Lily might be good, but Severus was better.

"Done," Severus said as he flicked the last bit of hyacinth petals into the ice-blue acid. It was steaming, that was how cold it was.

"We need a vial of this," Remus said. "But how are you going to get it?"

"Like this," Severus snapped. He got the thickest, biggest, strongest gloves Remus had ever seen out from a cupboard and put them on. In a speedy motion, he took a vial and scooped up the Arctic Acid inside. When his hand came up, the glove was half-corroded and Severus's skin was blue.

"It's so cold," Severus hissed as he ripped the glove off.

"Thank you so much," Remus said, taking the vial from Severus. "It was really nice of you–"

But at that moment, Severus had tipped the cauldron of freezing potion. The acid ate through the floor of the classroom and Remus had to jump back to evade the path of the slowly spreading liquid. Severus skipped across the classroom and out of the door.

"Hey!" James shouted. Remus watched as, with all the precision of a Quidditch Chaser like James wanted to be, he tossed Remus's textbook across the classroom and hit Severus in the head, knocking him out. He collapsed near the entrance.

"Get out, get out!" Sirius yelled, grabbing Remus's arm and yanking him out of the way of the Arctic Acid's path. Fawkes flew after them.

When they were out of the classroom, they all rested their hands on their knees, breathless.

"That went well," James said.

"What about Severus?" Remus said, suddenly worried. "Do you think he might get hurt by the acid?"

"Who cares?" Sirius said darkly.

"Seriously, guys," Remus said, beginning to go check on him.

"He tried to kill _us_!" James argued, and when Remus didn't look convinced, James added, "He was already out of the classroom, I got him in the head when he was out, he'll be fine. Plus, Lily could already be in Care, or dead by now."

"Oh, all right, let's go."

They hung the Invisibility Cloak over them, Fawkes having to stop his ascent and lower his flight to near hip-level of the three boy's, and began walking, Remus still enthralled by the fact that it worked so perfectly and that they were completely unseen underneath it.

In complete silence, they traipsed the halls of Hogwarts, their destination the Forbidden Forest. They encountered plenty of guards and every time they went near one, they made sure to tiptoe as quietly as they could. When they got out of the castle and into the grounds, they ran as fast as they could, afraid that Lily or Archie might already be gone.

The Forbidden Forest looked black and silent from the outside. The biggest entrance was like the open mouth of a beast, the wind howling and the trees swaying ominously. Remus lit up his wand with the Wand Lighting Charm he learned with Professor Flitwick, and Sirius and James copied.

Fawkes cawed angrily as he walked into Sirius, who had stopped walking and hesitated. "Guys, are you sure about this?"

"Yes," James and Remus said determinedly, and the four of them strode in.

Trees looking even older than Dumbledore creaked in the night as they padded across the leaf-strewn floor of the Forest. Moonlight poured over them in rays slitted by the canopy of trees, gradually getting taller, sharper and twisted as they progressed into the woods. Warped branches seemed to grow as Remus watched them. Dark plants and black flowers danced and bounced sinisterly in the wind, the breeze soft and strange. Strange, animalistic noises echoed through the night and Remus only felt assured that they were safe by the silky Invisibility Cloak that protected them. The three boys and Fawkes could have been walking in any direction and gotten lost, if not for the burning light like a beacon a kilometre away.

The forest, aptly nicknamed the Dark Forest sometimes, would have been pitch-black if not for the luminescent, fire-red glow flaring now and again in the distance. It must be Archie, Remus thought excitedly, must be Archie getting angry, or frightened. Remus was desperate to get to where Archie was, desperate to comfort his friend. Remus, in his heart, knew Archie was going to die, and quite soon, but hopefully by then Dumbledore would force Fawkes to cry or _something_ because the alternative was unthinkable. Remus quickened his pace, making Sirius, James and Fawkes copy him. Flame flared into the sky as Archie's rage increased and an earth-shaking roar quaked the ground.

Remus heard the scream resonate throughout the Forest, obviously Archie. "Oh, Archie," he said and began running in earnest.

In his haste and his utter single-mindedness, he collided into something and fell back, sending Sirius, James and Fawkes toppling backwards. Whatever – _whomever –_ he had collided with was swearing, muttering under their breath.

"Who's there?" he heard a young, sort-of sweet voice demand. It sounded kind of croaky though, like they had just woken up. "Who's there?"

The four of them got up, Remus checking that the Arctic Acid was still safely tucked in his robes. He held his breath, scared that Ursa was there.

To his surprise, it wasn't Ursa. It was _Professor Tacey_ , the old crone staring beadily into the darkness with her wand out.

"I know you're wearing an Invisibility Cloak, whoever you are, I used to be an Auror and a dark creature catcher," Tacey said viciously, her wand pointed out threateningly. It was so odd, hearing such a young, strong voice coming out of such an old, frail woman. "It's become a second nature to me! Show yourself!"

When none of them dare did, Tacey did something shocking.

To his utter surprise, Tacey sniffed like an animal scenting its prey and then with the swiftness of an athlete and the strength of an ox, reached out for the Invisibility Cloak and ripped it away. Her theft revealed the four of them, standing and staring in surprise at the new sight.

"You can _talk_?" James asked, incredulous.

Tacey clamped her hand over her mouth as she recognised them, but still held out one hand threateningly, pointing it at Remus.

"Please, don't," Remus said hurriedly, holding up his hands in surrender.

Tacey jabbed her wand in Remus's direction. Fawkes rose up in defence of Remus and Tacey shot a jet of light in Fawkes's direction. The bird disappeared in a flash of flame and reappeared on Remus's other side. Tacey gripped her wand even harder.

"No!" Remus yelled. "Don't hurt him. Don't hurt anyone."

Tacey ignored him. Tossing the Cloak aside, she swept her wand in an arc, sending the three boys and the bird falling to the ground again.

"Please!" Remus shouted as Tacey raised her wand for the death strike. "I saved your life once, remember? Back in the Room of Requirement, when you got burned by the dragon."

Tacey, scared anger in her eyes of being discovered that she could talk, of her being recognised, looked at Remus once. Then, her wand fell from her old fingertips and she stared, shocked, at her own hands.

"You can talk," James whispered again, disbelievingly.


	19. Archie's Ascent

"Where the mummy had been was a woman with floor length black hair and a skeletal, green-tinged face — a banshee. She opened her mouth wide and an unearthly sound filled the room, a long, wailing shriek that made the hair on Harry's head stand on end —"

\- _Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, J.K. Rowling_

* * *

"My mother was a banshee," Tacey explained to the group. Remus, his friends and their teacher sat in a small circle on the Forest floor, Fawkes circling overhead.

James choked. "Banshees can have children?"

Tacey shot him a look. "Yes, they can. My father was a human wizard. They fell in love when my father rescued my mother from a pack of Gytrashes. When I was born, like all babies do, I wailed. My parents expected me to be a normal witch, but the banshee gene was strong as well, so my scream killed my father."

Silence. Then: "I'm sorry," Remus said quietly.

"It's all right," Tacey said. "It was a long time ago. Anyways, my mother didn't die because banshees cannot fall from another banshee's call, so as we grew up, my mother adopted the farce of a Muggle and I became a silent little girl, scared of killing anyone else. The only thing happy I remember is my mother giving me my father's wand, which I had kept for years now."

Remus bit his lip. This was exactly how he felt and done before, becoming shy and quiet, scared for others.

"Armando Dippet, the Headmaster of Hogwarts at that time, wasn't very clever, and if he had known I was half-banshee, wouldn't have let me in Hogwarts," said Tacey. "But he did, so I spent seven years of my life uttering no words. As I lost speech, my other senses increased or maybe it was just the banshee in me, but I was first in Defence at the end of my schooling. I became an Auror for a while, but it was sort of boring, so I became a dark creature catcher.

"I still had not said anything for years and years, scared that I could not control my scary ability to kill with one scream," Tacey continued, "but when I became a dark creature catcher I was finally able to feel comfortable with the other people sharing my profession and I started talking and finally feeling happy."

Remus smiled. He hoped that one day his life would be like that, finally feeling comfortable with telling everyone about his lycanthropy and being accepted.

"Then my mother fell ill, and I had to resign to take care of her," Tacey said sadly. "Eventually, she died and I was left with no money and no job and no friends. So when Dumbledore offered my a teaching position, I had to accept.

"Scared because there was so many young children, so many with lives ahead of them, I did not speak to anyone, afraid of killing so many," she said. "I did not agree with the curriculum or Dumbledore's methods either, and I would have resigned soon if not for the dragon. Dumbledore did not let me see the dragon or tell me its location for fear that I would set it free and run away from it, because he knew of my past and my fascination with dangerous creatures." Tacey hesitated and looked at Remus. "You remember when I first saw the dragon? I admit I was enthralled and not thinking straight and I tried to hide the evidence but Dumbledore knew as he always knew. He was furious when he discovered that I had compromised your safety, the dragon's and my own. So that night I ran into the Forest, afraid of retribution."

"You've been here all this time?" James said disbelievingly.

"Yes," she replied. "I have been eating off the nuts, seeds and plants of the Forest and also Gytrash meat."

"Why've you been staying here, in the Forest?" Sirius asked. "Why not just resign and go home?"

"I've been nursing my hand, you see," Tacey said, brandishing her hand. It was covered with thick, green paste and wrapped around with a ropy vine. "I never went to Dumbledore to heal the dragon burn, because I was too proud, you know. So I've been here, using the Forest's resources to fix myself before I go back home. The thing is, this was the last dressing I needed to put and I could have left yesterday."

Sirius frowned. "So why not?"

"Because that Ursula Harker woman came across me when I was foraging. She must have thought I was a hag or a Muggle or something and she spat at me, but when she saw me point my wand at her, she looked so offended, like I had stolen it," Tacey said and as she continued she looked ashamed. "So she knocked me out with a spell and I woke up to find my wand missing. I _know_ she took it, the she-devil."

James pointed at the wand Tacey was holding. "So that's not yours?"

"No," she said a mischievous look played across her face. "I've been causing trouble for the Ministry officials guarding the dragon and taking their things, hoping that enough would send Ursa looking over there so I could take my wand back and duel her."

"Why not just keep that wand?" Sirius asked.

But Remus knew the answer. "Because that was the wand that belonged to your father, the one your mother gave you."

"Yes," said Tacey, looking serious. "I've had it for fifty-seven years and I will not let some Ministry upstart steal it away from me."

"Don't worry," Remus said, a plan beginning to form in his head. "You said you were causing trouble, so Ursa would come to investigate it? Well, Sirius, James, Fawkes and I are going to do something that'll cause a _lot_ of trouble."

The earmuffs Tacey had fashioned were ticklish against Remus's temple. They were made of strange, furry plants that were giggling, squirming bundles of leaves. They deadened the noise of the outside world as Remus put the makeshift earmuffs – made from the furry plants and a taut, short vine – over his ears. Beside him, James already had his on and Sirius was busy trying to make it fit around his head. Even Fawkes was equipped with one.

The four of them (and Fawkes) had been planning for hours now, fixing flaws and arguing about different aspects of it, Sirius getting impatient about their lack of action. It was past four o'clock when they stood up.

"I _can_ control my ability now, so I won't kill any of the Ministry people around," Tacey reassured them. "But you three – and the bird – will be in earshot when I scream, so I need you to wear the earmuffs to make sure you don't fall asleep."

"We can do that," Sirius said.

"But what about Archie?" said Remus anxiously. "Will Archie die from your screams?"

"No, I don't think so," Tacey said. "It's a dragon, dragons are much more impervious to magic except around the eyes and it obviously doesn't hear through its eyes.

"Anyway," she continued. "Do you understand the plan? After I knock out all the guards, we have to get the dragon free quickly otherwise we'll get caught. Hopefully, Ursa is there, and I can take back my wand, and if not, she will definitely be where you friend is, assuming you friend isn't in Care yet."

"We can't afford to think like that," James said dismissively.

Tacey shrugged. "Then, I'm going to go. Wait for my wail to finish before taking your earmuffs out and running to free the dragon."

And she disappeared into the shroud of the trees.

"Let's get closer to the camp," James mouthed to the other two boys and Fawkes, and they quietly made their way to a safe place with good vision of the enormous clearing where Archie was being held. Their safe spot was a clump of dark, tall trees and Remus was sure nobody could see them.

The clearing was like a hole had been dug out of the forest. The ground, charred with Archie's flame, was widespread and dotted with more than one hundred sentinels patrolling around Archie's enormous, thirty-foot figure. Wands out, bodies disciplined and uniform, Remus couldn't help but think of an army that the Ministry was raising. Remus peered but did not recognise any faces, did not see Lily or Ursa. So, obviously, they were keeping Lily in a separate place.

Archie was fastened to the ground with three dozen chains, all as thick as Remus himself and all of them made of abestine. Even his wings had been tied down and it looked so painful that Remus had half a mind to rush out to his friend and comfort him right there. Remus could still see the green infection lining Archie's belly. The infection was so, so much worse. It had spread all the way up Archie's neck and it was pulsating a nasty neon green. Remus almost cried looking at it.

Archie was presumably roaring in anger because of the fire emitting from his mouth and the rumbling of the ground, but Remus could not hear anything. Tacey was correct; the strange plants were strong and thick, and muted anything and everything.

Many, many Ministry guards, the ratio about one chain to three sentries, guarded Archie, in all his towering rage. They all wore the same uniform and stood coolly, uncaring to the thrashing of the dragon near them. Archie could hardly move with the shackles keeping him tied to the ground, but he still managed to shake the earth and flap his wings enough to create a strong gust. More guards that walked in straight lines appeared in his view. His heart fell; how could Enid Tacey, a fifty-seven year old, manage to get close enough to a hundred people to knock them all out?

"Oh, Archie," Remus whispered, even though he, Sirius, James, Archie, _nobody_ could hear his whisper.

Remus watched the crowd of people walking around Archie, and then he saw most of them snap their heads in one direction, looking surprised. Remus followed their line of vision and saw a dark figure, barely illuminated by Archie's glowing body, dart towards the centre of the clearing.

Remus saw it was Tacey, and with all the agility of a cheetah, dodging spells and hexes, she ran to the middle of the whole clearing.

She ripped her hair out of her bun and it fell down in a cascade of white hair. Remus stared in horror as she tore her mouth and her hair seemed to float in the air as the loudest, highest, sharpest, clearest sound ever was uttered. He was prepared for a wail, a shriek, but not a song.

But this was a horrible song, a piece of music that told of death and destruction and succumbing to illness. Ministry guards dropped like flies. Even with the earmuffs, he could hear the tune of terror, the warbling note that told him that going to sleep was the best.

Why not? Sleeping seemed so nice…

Next to him, Sirius gripped his shoulders, and Remus could see him shouting something at Remus, but of course, Remus couldn't hear, couldn't hear anything except the music…

Tacey supposably finished her scream, as James ripped away his earmuffs. Sirius copied, taking off Fawkes's and Remus's. Normal sound returned but he still could hear the scream, the lullaby…

"Remus, the acid!" Sirius yelled.

Huh, Remus thought, why is everyone asleep? The Ministry officials were all slumped on the floor. Why not join them? There was no harm…

There was Sirius ripping Remus's robes open and grabbing the vial with the Arctic Acid in it. But why? Was Sirius going to drink it like people drank milk before they slept? Weird…

Sirius tossed it to James, who was nearer to Tacey than he was, and he in turn threw it with accuracy into Tacey's old palms. She was right next to Archie, who was screaming in pain, the infection crawling up his stomach and pulsing bright green. Oh, she was going to feed it to Archie before he slept…

 _Archie_ ran through his thoughts and he was snapped out of his stupor. Archie was dying, and they needed to save him!

His clarity returned just in time to watch Tacey take out the cork of the Arctic Acid and poured the whole lot of it onto the abestine chains. The liquid seemed small and too little to Remus for a moment, before the liquid ate away the metal quicker than Tacey could run. The metal dissolved into dust particles as the acid ran throughout the whole and in a few second's time, Archie was no longer chained to the ground.

The Arctic Acid did touch Archie's skin and the dragon began screaming in pain. Tacey scrambled backwards as Archie's wings flapped furiously. The infection was throbbing even harder now, the green prominent against the purple belly. Archie's black scales shook as Archie once again reared up–

" _No_ ," Remus shouted, ignoring Sirius, and began running up to Archie. "Not again!"

Memories rushed into the front of his mind as he stood before Archie, his arms out, protecting his teacher. In his brain, there was a bird on fire, and two boys, one understanding and kind, the other fierce and greedy, and the destruction of an entire building following a blinded dragon's struggle.

Tacey clambered, her face white and terrified–

A boy, hugging his pet, his son, his best friend in the whole world, with all the love in the world.

Archie's throat glowed incandescent red–

The boy pulling back an old lady who was fascinated by the dragon, and the dragon's flame burning the lady's hands.

There was no Archie anymore, there was just a beast in this dragon's eyes–

A revelation, a reveal, and the boy huddling up to a dying beast.

Archie's flame rose up in his throat, about to blast–

The first time the boy got burned, and an old man giving advice.

But, the eyes weren't without soul, and the dragon wasn't without a heart, right? Remus looked closer–

The boy feeding the dragon, brewing potions, caring, loving, hoping.

In that moment, Archie's eyes seemed young, innocent again and Remus dared to hope–

The first the boy ever saw the dragon, saying, "I'm not sure about Archimedes. I think I like Archie better."

Archie burned Remus in the face.

There was that split second where Remus felt like he was alive, and then there wasn't that split second but just a complete blankness. He heard yells and sobs and haggard breathing and Archie moaning.

Above all he heard music.

Remus didn't have a very refined music taste, Lily assured him a lot of the time. He didn't like the same type of rock Muggle bands and was also out of touch of the wizarding artists at that time.

But he appreciated this song, this song of sadness and melancholy and reflecting and depressing. The song spoke of pain and the song was so deep and intense, like the ocean, perhaps, Remus thought. A song of the sea, he considered, music like water. Music swelling like waves, a melody of a waterfall crashing, a beat of raindrops keeping everything in time.

Sea, he thought. What a profound thing, a whole expanse of blue and white and green, of nothing else, where any song could be sung and nobody could care.

Waterfall, he considered. Sometimes, everything felt like it was plummeting down a waterfall, failing potions, Archie dying, him being a werewolf.

Ripples in a lake.

Rain.

Water droplets.

Droplets.

Drops.

Something was disturbing his philosophical thoughts, he noticed, annoyed. Drops falling on his face. Was it raining? That was funny. Did it rain in heaven?

But he wasn't in heaven and it wasn't raining. He was still in the clearing in the Forbidden Forest, and it was Fawkes leaning over his arm and crying. Sirius, James and Tacey were all observing this, concerned.

He realised what was happening. "No, no, don't cry on me!"

And Remus staggered up, ignoring the inflammation in his arm, which was already fading due to Fawkes's tears, and directed Fawkes all the way over to Archie's belly. Fawkes's tears streamed down and they touched Archie's infection. The green disappeared and the brilliant purple returned and Remus began crying himself. Archie's sickness that had persisted for months and sent Remus crazy was gone.

Archie was finally all right! He threw his arms around his dragon, his friend, and stayed there for a while. Archie had stopped breathing fire and was standing still, breathing heavily.

Remus finally looked up at his dragon friend. Archie's eyes said, "I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Remus whispered, looking tearfully. "I just need to ask you to do something for me."

"Anything," Archie seemed to say.

In ten minutes, Remus, Sirius, James, Tacey and Fawkes were sitting on Archie's back. "Go," yelled Remus, and Archie lifted himself into the air.

It was nothing like Remus had ever felt before. It was the wind in his face and the stars disappearing and the sun bursting from the mountains. The trees were no longer dead-looking and crunched but alive and waving and seemed to smile. It was James screaming and Fawkes making loud bird squeaks and Tacey shouting delightedly. It was Sirius gripping Remus's hand and falling in love with the whole wide world.

"Are you sure Archie knows where he's going?" Sirius shouted over the whistling wind.

"Yes," Remus said simply.

Archie finally swooped down into the Forbidden Forest into a clearing smaller than the one where Archie had been shackled in. Lily was being tied to a tree, surrounded by many Ministry officials, including a sharp-looking Ursa who shrieked at the sight of the dragon. There was Tacey clambering down the dragon and beginning to duel the taken-aback Ursa. There was the three boys running to Lily and untying her, and her hugging Remus tightly and ignoring the other two. There was Fawkes and Archie swooping down together and attacking the Ministry officials, sending them fleeing. Tacey got her wand back. And then Lily had joined their group of dragon riders.

Remus whooped as they lifted into the air once again. Archie soared across the dawn, the beautiful colours of the sky shimmering as they flew around. Remus scooted closer when it seemed like Archie was saying something.

"I have to go now," Archie seemed to whisper. His flight slowed down as he crossed over the huge Black Lake near Hogwarts castle.

"What? No! You're staying with me, we'll work something out," Remus said.

"You cannot."

Remus remained stubborn. "Then I'll go with you."

"You have a whole life ahead of you," Archie argued. "The Tacey woman, however, does not. I am taking her with me into the wild. She is an old woman with a sad life and she deserves some fun."

Remus shot a teary look at Archie. "Please. I'm your friend. I need you. You need me."

"Jump off now, kids," Tacey said. "This is the safest place you can get off."

One by one, Sirius, James and then Lily, dropped off Archie's back and fell into the Black Lake with a small splash. They submerged, gasping for air and swimming to the shore.

Finally, it was only Remus left.

"Archimedes," he said furiously and for the first time, always calling the dragon by his nickname. "You are not, you _cannot_ , let me live without you! You're my best friend in the whole world. I've brought you out of sickness and out of sadness and you've done the same to me, so you _can't_." Remus wiped a tear from his eyes madly. "You can't."

"You're right," Archie said and Remus felt a rush, felt that Archie agreed with him that he should stay! "I prefer Archie as well. Goodbye, Remus. I love you."

And with a brush of his wings, Archie sent Remus flying off his body. It felt like an eternity, staring up at the rapidly decreasing image of Archie soaring across the sky. He fell into the sea, drowning and drowning until he unwillingly submerged. His friends crowded him but he could only think of one friend right now.

He looked up at Archie flying away, feeling a mixture of resentment, betrayal and sadness. But eventually, he felt happy, because Archie was finally free and Remus cheered as he watched his friend speed away.

"Goodbye, Archie, I love you too," he shouted as Archie ascended into the glorious sunrise.


	20. One Home to Another

"I'm not going home. Not really."

– _The Philosopher's Stone (2002)_

* * *

Professor McGonagall very much wanted to know why four students and a bird ended up in her office at five o'clock in the morning, the children drenched and the bird on fire. She voiced her inquiry.

"Severus set free the dragon before, Professor," James panted, breathless. "Not Lily. She's innocent."

"You can't say that!" Lily shrieked and she shoved him out of the way.

Remus stepped in. "Lily–"

Lily shouted, "It was me, Professor, I'm a horrible little girl. I set the dragon free the first time."

"What do you mean, the _first_ time?" Professor McGonagall said coldly.

At that moment, her office door slammed open, Ursa stepping in, her hair charred, her make-up smudged and her eyes looking wild.

She pointed her long finger directly at Remus. "You! _You_! You stupid brat! You set the dragon and that banshee free, I know it."

Remus raised his eyebrows. "Me? I've been in Hogwarts this whole time? How could I have set a dragon and a banshee free?"

"He's telling the truth," Professor McGonagall lied smoothly. "They've been serving detention this whole time."

"Why are they wet?" Ursa said, not ready to give in.

"They've been doing detention, I told you," the Professor said nastily. "At the Black Lake, they've been searching for Plimpies for a spell I would like to show the class."

Ursa shot a look at Lily. "Then why is _she_ here? She's meant to be in the Forbidden Forest."

"Because," Lily said, all her frenzy and madness at James disappearing in an instant, "I got scared when the dragon attacked us and burned the rope around me. So I ran around looking for Hogwarts and accidentally fell in the Black Lake. The three boys found me and brought me to Professor McGonagall because they were afraid I'd get sick."

"I was in the middle of medically assessing her when you so rudely interrupted," Professor McGonagall added.

Ursa looked furious. "Why would they go to you and not the matron?"

"Why would anyone hire you?" Professor McGonagall said. "Who knows."

Ursa looked about to burst. "Fine. But she still has to pay for her crime."

The two office doors slammed open again and the two guards at the interrogation were there, looking stoic.

"Wait, I can prove she isn't guilty!" James said.

Lily exchanged a knowing glance with him and shouted, "No, no you can't!"

"What?" asked Remus.

"He's going to get Severus in trouble and clear Lily's name at the same time," Sirius whispered back at him.

"Stop this," Ursa said coldly as Lily and James began struggling, hitting one another and shoving each other out of the way.

The office door slammed open again. Professor McGonagall was irate. "Who is it now? – Oh, it's you Albus."

Dumbledore strode in, looking perfectly calm. He sent a covert wink at Remus, which Remus took as acknowledging that Remus had completed the plan. Then he turned to James and Lily. "Please stop fighting. I would like to clear a few things and I can't have people fighting while I am.

"Firstly, I am afraid I cannot stop the Ministry from taking Lily away," Dumbledore said, Ursa triumphant and James dejected. "However, I can make the Ministry follow _its own rules_." Ursa frowned, confused. "The Ministry must keep their accused of which they have little proof, where they find them for seven days unless danger is imminent. So, you have kept Lily here for one day, and you must keep her here for six more if you desire to not be fired for your incompetence," he said looking directly at Ursa.

She flushed.

"Secondly, I will not have you keep this girl tied up like she is a criminal, rather than a misbehaving child. She will stay in Hogwarts like any other student here and by all means you can sit and spend your life observing a little girl," Dumbledore said.

She flushed even deeper, but with anger this time rather than embarrassment.

"Thirdly, I am very proud of all of you," Dumbledore said, looking at the four children. _No_ , Remus thought. He was going to reveal their secret! But then Dumbledore continued his talk. "I was listening to your conversation earlier and I heard that you were fishing for Plimpies. What a selfless and noble cause."

Ursa looked furious and confused. "What?"

"Your chivalry and nerve must be awarded," he said, nodding seriously. "Fifty points apiece to the three boys for searching for Plimpies. Oh, and fifty points to you, Miss Evans, for not getting sick."

Remus hid his grin.

Ursa shrieked. "You're mad, you're all mad! This whole system is corrupt."

"Dare I say, if you are looking for a corrupt system, you need only look at the one you work for," he said knowingly, his glasses flashing.

Ursa raised her wand, pointing it in Dumbledore's face. "This has gone long enough. You are old and useless and a bad Headmaster. _Somebody_ has to get rid of you."

At that moment Fawkes came swooping in, a flurry of feathers and flame, and squawked and skirmished in Ursa's face. She shrieked, covering it. Fawkes eventually stopped and soared away, winking goodbye to Remus. When Ursa lifted her hands away, Remus was surprised to see she was totally unharmed, except for a little scratch lining her cheek.

"Have fun with your scar on your face," Remus said playfully, echoing her the night before, and then the four children ran away laughing.

* * *

Exam results were coming soon. Remus was reading a book at the Great Hall at breakfast when he saw James have a heated debate with Professor McGonagall at the staff's table. James seemed to be trying to convince the Transfiguration Professor of something. She seemed averse to the idea.

Rolling his eyes, Remus thought that James was probably trying to ask McGonagall for extra credit or something. His eyes returned to his book.

Somebody tapped him on the shoulder. It was Sirius. "Hey," he said.

"Hello," Remus said.

"I, uh, just want to say," Sirius said, rubbing the back of his neck, "well, I wanted to say are you all right? I'm sorry for you. I know the dragon was really important to you. I'm really sorry that it – _he_ – had to go away."

Remus smiled, warmth spreading in his chest. Even now, days after the adventure, Sirius was still thinking about Remus's feelings. He was still using the proper pronouns for the animal

"Don't worry," Remus said, touching Sirius's hand. "It's okay, I'm over it. He was my friend, but now he's free and Dumbledore says he'll make sure Archie gets fed. Plus, Tacey's with Archie anyway. She's dealt with creatures before, she'll handle him."

Remus had gone to Dumbledore and discussed about Archie's health and welfare, and Dumbledore reassured him. Archie was going to be all right. Tacey could take care of him. Everything was all right. That was when Remus had last seen Fawkes, who had finally left Remus's side and returned to Dumbledore, satisfied that Remus had made Fawkes cry because of his bravery. Remus had smiled at Fawkes and promised to read more books with him sometime.

Sirius looked like he was about to say something but sneezed.

Amused, Remus said, "Bless you," and got him a tissue.

James arrived at their table, looking quite victorious. He had a new companion, a sleek tabby cat that walked across the Gryffindor table with prim, perfect posture.

"Um, what's this all about?" Remus asked.

"Quick, Severus goes to the library after breakfast to read some dumb old potion revision even though the exams are over," James said, grabbing Remus and Sirius.

"Huh? James?"

But he was already stringing along his two friends up a staircase, through the corridor that led to the library. Once they were up there, James ushered them behind a bookshelf and made them be quiet. All this time, the cat padded along after them, looking like it did not want to be there. It hopped up onto the bookshelf the boys were behind, nose facing the ceiling.

"James–" Remus said but James shushed him with a finger. From their hiding place, they could see Severus walk into the library. As Severus came in, James moved out into the open, dragging his two friends with him.

"Is this a prank?" Remus said furiously as Severus moved to a nearby table, opening up a book and hunching over it. "James Potter–"

But James was speaking over him, talking so loud that even Severus could hear. "Man, that was so fun, don't you think, Remus?"

Remus glowered at him. Pranking Severus was not high up in his to-do list. "What was?"

"Releasing the dragon!" James said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Severus lifted his head up, hearing them, Remus saw, a suspicious look on his face.

"James, I don't think you should be shouting that out," Remus hissed.

"Remus!" James said, falsely incredulous. "Didn't you think it was fun, when we went into the Room of Requirement and freed the dragon on purpose?"

Remus saw Severus glaring at them, beginning to stand up. "I don't–"

"Right?" James said, nudging Sirius in the ribs. Remus still didn't understand.

Sirius nodded appreciatively, playing along. His voice was also unnecessarily loud. "Yes, it was, especially when all those girls thought we were so cool because of that. We didn't even get caught."

James flashed a grin. "And then Evans thought we were so awesome that she got blamed for it instead."

Severus was there in a second, glare prominent and voice deadly. "That isn't true."

James smiled innocently. "What's not true?"

"You weren't the one who set the dragon free," Severus hissed.

"Oh, really?" James said smugly. "Then who was?"

Severus was fuming. "It was me! Stop taking credit for things you didn't do. And Lily would never like you, so stop lying. Your friend Lupin knows the _real_ story, ask him."

But while Severus was talking, the cat had leapt off the bookshelf. As Severus finished, the cat had morphed into Professor McGonagall, tall and strict and stern, an appraising look on her face. Remus surprised, fell back and Sirius caught him.

She shot James a knowing, satisfied look before turning to Severus with a cold, matter-of-fact expression. James looked quite proud of himself, beaming as Professor McGonagall gave Severus a loud talking-to that attracted the attention of the many people around them.

"…allowed others to take the blame for you," the Professor went on, towering over the small Severus, "and she is one of your friends! You have displayed a lack of empathy or kindness or regret for your actions."

Severus silently fumed. Remus would have felt sorry for him if he hadn't remembered Peter's blackened hunk of hands.

"Well, I'm sure you can think all about this when being questioned by the Ministry," Professor McGonagall said, her tirade over. "For some reason, I have an inkling that Dumbledore will not want you to go into Care, so detention for the whole of the first week next year, Mr Snape, and polishing the candelabra in the Hall for now. I hear they may be a little malformed since the dragon's destruction of the school, your fault, of course, but do try your best."

Sirius laughed cruelly. Severus shot him an angry look, his hands clenching so tight that his skin was even whiter. Remus imagined Severus wanted to wrap the pale hands of his around Severus's neck.

"Off we go," Professor McGonagall said and she proceeded to walk away, her iron grip around Severus's shoulder. As she left, she sent a knowing nod at James. "Twenty points, I should think, for bringing justice, Mr Potter."

James was beaming.

* * *

When Peter came back from St. Mungo's Hospital two days later, Remus, Sirius and James all reunited with him in the Common Room, laughing and shouting. His hands were pasty and fine again, his smile broad on his big face.

"I need to tell you _everything_ that happened while you were gone," James said and began jumping into a recount from when Archie had gone loose and crazy, all the way to two days prior when Severus had finally gotten served his sentence. All the while, Sirius got into a furious fit of sneezing that Remus had to go around looking for tissues in their dormitory for him. When he came back, James was speaking loudly.

"And then," James said, slapping his knee laughing, "McGonagall gave him detention for next year!" Peter chortled along. "He was so angry, I thought he would break something. He's kind of creepy, he kept staring at me."

Remus heard someone sniff loudly near them. He turned his head and saw Lily, funnily enough, hunched over an enormous wastebasket filled with rubbish, her long hair covering her face. She appeared to be searching through it rapidly.

"Lily…?" Remus asked.

"Hi, Remus," she said, her voice thick.

"Are you okay?" he asked her.

Lily tossed her red hair out of her eyes. "Yes, I am. No, I'm not. I feel really bad for Severus."

"Why? Because he got what he deserved?"

She shot him a look. "I don't think it was very nice what James did. I think it was bullying."

"Lily!" Remus said, shocked. "He saved you, twice. You would probably have gone through Care, because you're a Muggleborn, but Severus is half-blood so he's getting off free. Plus, you took the blame for him and he wasn't even sorry."

Lily frowned. "He said he was. But he's angry at me. He's unhappy that he's in trouble and I didn't do anything to stop it."

"Yeah, well, he still deserves what he got, he sounds like he reacts very bad when he's punished fairly," Remus said. When Lily didn't make any reply, Remus said, "So what're you doing looking through the wastebasket?"

"Oh," Lily said, green eyes sad. "Remember how you told me how you used Severus to make the Arctic Acid?" Remus did not like the way she said _used_ , but still nodded. "I'm trying to find my parchment. Severus still has his. I was thinking … if I found it … Severus would be nice to me again …"

Remus stared at her for a few moments. Then: "Move aside. I'll help."

Lily's eyes sparkled as she shifted to make room for Remus.

* * *

The final Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw had been postponed earlier due to Archie's wrecking of the school. It was to be held on Sunday, and on that morning there was much fervour and excitement spreading throughout the Gryffindor table.

Breakfast was a fun affair, James and Peter especially thrilled about the prospect of Gryffindor winning the House Cup this year. If they beat the Ravenclaw Quidditch team, then they would surpass as reigning house. James whooped throughout the whole of breakfast, spreading scarlet and golden banners and Peter helped Gryffindor cheer by tossing food at Ravenclaws. Lily looked less amused as she flipped through a heavy textbook.

Eventually, James complained that Remus and Sirius were slow eaters and went down to the Quidditch pitch with Peter. Lily went down too, saying that maybe Severus was down there already and she could say hello to him.

"Shame, really," Remus said nonchalantly over his pie. Sirius and him were sitting opposite each other, Remus delaying having to go to watch a Quidditch game, never really finding its charm, and Sirius delaying has to go without Remus.

"Huh?" said Sirius.

"Lily went looking for Severus, but he's there," Remus said, pointing his fork in the direction of Severus. He was near the Slytherin table. Unfortunately it seemed that he was making his way over to the Gryffindor table. Remus hoped Severus wasn't going to talk to them, for fear of his anger about getting dobbed in to Professor McGonagall.

"Ugh, what a git," Sirius muttered. "I hate him."

"I can tell," said Remus, amused.

"Oh, my God, he's coming here…"

Very shockingly, Severus did not proceed to slap them, or punch them, or kick them, or scream and shout and shriek in anger, or chug a poison down their throats. Instead, he smiled, a sick, twisted grin that Remus did not like seeing.

"Hi!" Severus said.

"Hey," said Remus cautiously.

"I'd just like to say, I'm really sorry for being rude to you this whole year," Severus said. It was weird, Remus thought, because Severus could not stop moving his arms as he spoke. They went near Remus's plate, Sirius's cup, even the floor. "I've been really cruel and selfish and stuff and I apologise for all of that, for saying you're bad at Potions, Remus, or for accidentally giving you boils, Sirius."

He smiled.

Well, if Severus Snape is smiling, why can't I? Remus thought. He grinned back. "Thanks, Severus. That's really nice of you to say sorry. I forgive you. And Sirius does too, right?"

Sirius made a grunt.

Severus grinned even wider. "Bye, I'm going to go watch the Quidditch match," he said and he walked away. Now Remus and Sirius were the only two people in the Great Hall, everyone already down at Quidditch.

"That was weird," Remus said quietly. "I've never seen him act like that before. He's usually quite bitter and mean. Well, it's nice that he's making a change."

"Whatever," Sirius answered, grinning and gulping down his pumpkin juice, "I think we should finish off our breakfast before James strangles us."

Remus agreed and was about to shovel all of his food into his mouth like Sirius was about to, when the latter began to spasm. Sirius's skin turned as grey as his eyes and his hair lost its rich black. Sirius eventually stopped convulsing and fell limp against his chair. He looked dead.

Remus dropped his plate, gasping. He rushed over immediately. Sirius looked like he wasn't _alive_ anymore? Was he really dead?

Nope, Remus decided, sighing heavily in relief, watching Sirius breathe, if a bit shallowly. His friend was still alive.

"But … what?" Remus voiced aloud. What had happened? Then: " _Snape_."

It had been Severus, with his Slytherin-esque ambition, his single-minded drive for what he wanted, his yearlong quest to create the potion he wanted, the Draught of Living Death. It all fit; Severus had been furious at Sirius for laughing at his punishment, and obviously wanted revenge. It culminated into using the Living Death to wreak vengeance. His flailing arms had drawn out a bottle probably, a bottle containing the potion he had spent the whole year brewing, the potion with Archie's own flesh inside. It grossed him out thinking of it.

Remus began panicking. What could he do? All the teachers were in the stands watching the Quidditch, far too long away for Remus to carry Sirius to. Maybe he could leave Sirius here, and bring a Professor? But running to the stands would take far too long for Remus to believe that Sirius would be safe.

What was closer than a teacher that could help? The answer came to him in a flurry of thoughts. Sometimes you had to fight fire with fire, or rather, liquid with liquid.

Remus made sure Sirius was safe and secure in his chair and then sped all the way up to his dormitory. Frenzied hands and sore feet skipped up a flight of stairs and then he made his way into his bed. Near it was the vial of pale green that he grabbed up and then he was darting down the stairs again.

Breathless, he arrived back, Sirius still fast asleep – was he even alive? – in his seat. Remus uncorked the Wiggenweld Potion and examined it. There was barely any in it, everything else awash and sunk into the Common Room floor from when Ursa had come.

He hesitated. No longer would he have a project, forty per cent of his Potions mark. But then all forethought disappeared and then he was opening Sirius's mouth.

As he was going to pour the Wiggenweld he jerked his hand back, remembering Slughorn's words: " _It is now known however that Wiggenweld potion is best administered through direct contact with flesh rather than drinking, as it is rather poisonous when swallowed_."

"Well, then," Remus said, laughing to himself, "this'll be a funny story to tell him when he wakes up."

Remus began to dab the Wiggenweld over his lips. Feeling quite awkward, but determined to make sure Sirius was all right, he leaned forward and his lips made contact with the other boy's. It wasn't anything special, but he felt Sirius come back to life, felt warmth rush back into skin and felt stronger breathing return.

Remus straightened his body, and looked at Sirius blink and look around. "Huh…why did you ?"

"How are you this fine morning, fair princess?" Remus said, smiling.

Sirius grinned. "Sensational, handsome knight."

Sirius then sneezed quite loudly.

Remus frowned. "Are you sure you're all right?"

"Yeah, I'm perfect."

* * *

The next day the Wiggenweld Potions were due for Slughorn. Remus had no potion of course, having used it to wake Sirius, so he went to Slughorn's office with an empty hand and a mind whirring with excuses, cover-ups and explanations.

He knocked on the door. Slughorn opened it, dressed in his nightgown. It was still morning.

"Well, hello, Remus," Slughorn said warmly. "How may I help you today? Are you here to give me your potions project?"

"Uh, sir, the thing is…" Remus said, rubbing the back of his neck. He had been so proud of his Wiggenweld, and now he was going to say he hadn't even done it. "I haven't…"

"Remus!" somebody yelled behind him. It was Lily, running up to him, holding two things in one hand. As she approached him, he saw it was two vials of Wiggenweld.

"Lily?"

Lily stopped, breathless, in front of Remus and Slughorn. She brandished one of the vials. "Remus! You forgot your Wiggenweld."

The green potion was clearer and nicer than Remus's and was definitely not his. However, in Lily's unmistakeable writing, was his name on the side of it. "I forgot my – oh, yeah!"

Lily had shot Remus a wink and a nudge.

"Thank you, Miss Evans, for bringing Mr Lupin's down," Slughorn beamed. "He was about to tell me he had forgotten to bring it."

"Yeah," Remus said, nodding.

"Well, these two Wiggenweld Potions look very well done," Slughorn appreciatively as Lily handed him the two vials. "Good job, children."

He took them and went back into his office.

They walked to breakfast in silence. Then:

"You _so_ owe me."

"Oh, shush."

* * *

Amazing test results in every subject except Potions, and a satisfactory mark in that one later, and the week sped by. Finally, they had packed their bags, had the end-of-year feast and they were already in Hogsmeade Station. Remus sighed as he lifted his luggage into the bag compartment in the Hogwarts Express. It was quite heavy.

"You okay?" a voice asked. Remus turned around and it was Sirius.

"Yeah," Remus said, smiling as Sirius helped him lift his luggage into the compartment. "Thanks."

"No worries," Sirius said quietly, and then they were hugging tightly, with all of the affection and love only two eleven year old friends could give each other.

"Promise you'll take care of yourself?" Remus said, concerned. Sirius's nose was still red and he still had been coughing.

"Yeah, of course. Promise you'll see me next year?" Sirius said, smiling.

"Yeah, of course. Next year," Remus said and then they boarded the Hogwarts Express, ready to travel from one home to another.

* * *

 **A/N:** Hi! I'm so sorry I haven't updated in a while, I'm having yearly tests this week. I'll update when they're over. :)


	21. The Red-Eyed Rabbit

"An animal's eyes have the power to speak a great language."

 _\- Martin Buber_

* * *

The rabbit would not stop looking at him.

Remus glared at it, his homework in his lap. It glared back. The Wild Wind coursed through the meadow, a turbulent breeze that often sent things airborne and away. Remus made sure to hold onto his homework so it didn't fly away. Then he said, "Oh, what do you want?"

The rabbit shot him a look, small red eyes narrowed. Then, it jerked its snout in the direction of Remus's garden, specifically the vegetables and tubers growing in the rich soil. Remus raised an eyebrow.

"What?"

The bunny nodded its head at the vegetable garden.

Remus shrugged. "I don't understand."

The rabbit rolled its eyes like Remus was being stupid. It gave him a look that clearly meant "Follow me," and it hopped towards the plants. Remus dropped his book sand followed, _feeling_ stupid as he walked in the dirt after some random rabbit.

In truth, there were often small animals like rabbits and hares that hopped across the meadow in which Remus's parent's house was in, but none had ever gone so close to him. It had a nice coat of white but odd red eyes that rabbits often had. Remus did not like the look of them.

"You know, my mother won't like it if you eat any of her vegetables, so I suggest you don't," Remus said conversationally. The rabbit tossed him a critical look and then continued bounding away.

The bunny rabbit stopped in front of a Wandering Willow (it hadn't wandered for many years, Remus suspected its roots had lost its locomotive quality) and pointed up with its white paw. Remus followed the direction the paw was pointing.

"I don't see anything," Remus said, peering.

The rabbit almost looked like it rolled its eyes. With its paw it pointed more vigorously. Remus's eyes followed. "I still don't see anything."

The bunny actually growled. Then, with no warning at all, it opened its mouth and said, "In between the leaves, high up."

Remus, for some reason, did not find it surprising that the animal could talk. "Hmm," he said, and shielded his eyes from the harsh sunlight. If he squinted, he could see something smallish and brown tucked under the leaves. An acorn, perhaps, or a ball.

"Oh, is that yours?" Remus asked.

The rabbit nodded its white head.

"Do you want me to go get it for you?"

It did.

"All right, then," Remus said, brushing his sweaty hands on his pants. It would be a bit difficult to climb the tree, but he would manage. Remus did not like heights, but this rabbit would not stop glaring at him as he did his homework. Climbing a tree would be fun, yeah? He did it when he was seven years old, so why not now?

Remus scrutinised the tree. The Wandering Willow was big and thick and its buttress roots flopped around slightly, still being able to move. Hopefully the tree wouldn't move as Remus climbed. Pretty leaves whispered and danced in the wind, layers upon layers of green surrounding a thick trunk. It was easily the largest and tallest thing in the garden, forty metres tall at least.

He began his ascent by finding a big gnarl in the trunk and used it as a foothold. He wrapped a foot and an arm around either side of the tree and hoisted himself up with a grunt.

He grabbed onto a nearby branch and lifted himself up with it, resting his foot on a bark hole. Remus repeated this, one arm lifting up one leg at a time, sturdy determination coursing through his arms. He had barely gone up ten metres before he started to get tired, his arm muscles aching and his thighs pained. Sweat beaded his forehead.

"I'm so unfit," Remus grunted, raising himself up once more.

One time, his hand grabbed a crumbling branch and it broke off at his touch. He barely held on, clinging to the trunk tightly. He looked at the branch as it fell, watched it shatter against the earth and the bunny look up at him. He would fall and shatter like that branch, Remus told himself, if he didn't continue climbing. So he ceased looking down and continued his ascent, grabbing at strong branches and disregarding weak ones.

Halfway up, he became tired and rested on a particularly thick part of the tree, leaning back and panting. If he peered up, he could see the brown object glint in the distance, two dozen more metres up. The Wild Wind whistled in his face and he brushed the hair out of his eyes.

He wiped his forehead and began climbing once more. The thing shined between the cover of leaves.

"Whatever it is, it better be really valuable," Remus said irritably, resentful of how tired and sweaty and dirty and used he felt.

It wasn't. Not at all. The object, Remus meant, was not valuable. Rather, it was just a huge, round nut that had a sheen to it and rolled quite smoothly in his hand. Well, whatever it was, Remus had promised to take it to the rabbit.

The sight at the top of the Wandering Willow was a sight to see. The glorious sunset shone across the whole meadow and Remus could see his cosy house in the distance. The plants and the vegetables growing in the garden looked small and beautiful from way up here, and the bunny rabbit was merely a white speck. He had been wrong; the tree was fifty metres tall, not forty.

He descended carefully, grasping the same branches and gnarls in the tree as he had last time. When he got closer to the ground, perhaps thirty metres away, he turned around so he could see the rabbit and waved down at it.

The rabbit looked far from happy. It was making almost humanlike noises of distress and panic, hopping around madly, and pointing with its front paw at the bottom of the tree. Remus peered down and to his horror saw the Wandering Willow's roots begin to rise and shake.

It would have looked cool if he wasn't about to fall to his death. The Wandering Willow's roots were thick and strong and abundant, and for the first time in years, they began to rise, lifting the entire weight of the willow up. Leaves fell away as the Wandering Willow took its first few slow, gradual steps. Every step it took, the roots slammed into the ground and imbedded itself into it and sent the whole tree shaking.

Remus could not find it within himself to scream, eyes wide as he watched the rabbit run away in terror. He clutched onto for dear life, the tree trembling wildly as it moved. Remus moaned; he had the worst luck.

"Please stop, _stop_ ," Remus yelled at the tree, which probably couldn't hear him. The tree's several branches began waving uncontrollably as it stepped, the Wandering Willow's equivalent to people swinging their arms as they walked.

Remus could not hold on for much longer, constantly shaking along with the tree. Leaves fell in torrents and explosions rippled through the trunk.

When the tree passed the garden, he let go of the tree and fell to the hard earth and squishy vegetables with a loud force and a grunt from his mouth. Dusting dirt off himself, he got up and found with amazement that the little nut was still enclosed in his sweaty palm.

Remus looked around and saw the little bunny hop over to him, looking wary. It looked at him appraisingly and Remus tossed the nut over to it. The rabbit's face began chittering its big teeth excitedly. The rabbit began saying stuff like, "Come out, guys, come on!" and Remus did not understand.

He looked as the Wandering Willow walked away, its roots moving and slamming into the earth like a weird insect. Remus did not quite like insects, but his hatred was definitely less than Lily's. Thinking of Lily made him think of Sirius, James and Peter, and made him miss his friends. It was still the summer holidays.

It looked kind of funny, the Wandering Willow crawling away and Remus was kind of glad it was moving. It must have been boring to stay in one place and Remus hoped it found somewhere better. Plus the huge absence and the places where the roots had banged against looked funny.

He turned around to see if the rabbit was still there and then suddenly there was at least a dozen white rabbits, all of them chittering excitedly and climbing upon each other. They all had normal brown eyes except one, so Remus knew the one in front padding close to him was the original one.

"You – you have a lot of friends," Remus said, laughing as they all bounded towards him.

A chorus of cheerful, high-pitched "Thank you!" met him and then the rabbits were playing with each other, tossing the nut around the circle of them, giggling as they played. When it reached the last rabbit, the red-eyed one, they took turns jumping on top of the nut, trying to break open the hard shell.

Remus helped them, shattering it against his knee. He passed the large, golf ball-sized kernel to the rabbits and they took turns biting bits off it off with their funny looking teeth. It was kind of sad.

"Is this your only food?" Remus asked.

The rabbits all stared up at him. Then, the red-eyed one pointed at the grass and shook their head, and also at the vegetables. After careful deliberation, Remus guessed they meant they either couldn't eat the food, or they did not like it, or they had some sense of ownership and did not want to eat it without permission.

"Well, you can eat some if you like," Remus said carefully, "and I'll tell my mum I got really hungry."

Cautiously, the bunnies approached the food and then suddenly they began devouring with vigour, like they hadn't eating in ages. True, the rabbits were skinny and pale, but Remus had just attributed that to physical features.

Only the red-eyed rabbit did not lose itself in swallowing everything in the vicinity, choosing to nibble on the remainders of the nut.

"You're not around here," Remus observed, "because the other rabbit groups just eat whatever they want. My mum takes her plants really seriously and keeps the gate locked a lot. You guys waited for permission. How come? Where did you come from? Why was that one nut there? It definitely doesn't grow there."

Through several re-enactments and chirping and even words, Remus was able to understand the rabbit's and its friends' story. In a far away land, colonies upon colonies of rabbits lived together. From the way the rabbit described it, with English and gestures, these rabbits had quite an advanced society and their ideas of ownership and belonging was quite advanced. The rabbits lived in peace for generations until quite recently, it seemed, something the rabbit called Stingers had come.

Remus had no idea what Stingers were and the rabbit did not know how to explain it but made a weird guttural noise in impression of whatever Stingers were. Remus decided it was okay he didn't know, and all he could gather was that they were dangerous and the rabbits disliked them. The Stingers apparently _killed_ some of them in ways that the rabbit did not describe, but said that one of the things the Stingers did, other than actually Stinging, Remus assumed, was that they ate flesh.

"Why did they attack a rabbit colony?" Remus asked, amazed.

The rabbit's voice was high-pitched and scared. "They were looking for a place. A big place where they could stay and make a home in and control stuff. But they thought our colony was too small so they went away, but most of us were already dead."

The bunny continued, telling him that the remaining rabbits ran away, hoarding as many nuts and vegetables as they could in their stubby little arms, eating the food they had as they journeyed across lands. Remus laughed as he imagined little rabbits hopping through fierce terrain and weather conditions. Days upon days followed without rest or sufficient food. Eventually, all thirteen of them got tired near a meadow next to a house, Remus's parent's, and they all agreed to sleep and take a rest. When they woke, the red-eyed rabbit had seen the Wild Wind pick up the only nut they had left and toss it away, up into the leaves of an unmoving Wandering Willow. They went up to a random human boy and asked him to help them get their only last food resource.

"Wow, okay," Remus said. "Well, all of you have been through a lot. Too much. You can eat all of my food. You can take shelter in my house now. I'll hide you from my mum, because she'll probably not take too kindly having animals in the house. I'll make sure all of you are okay," Remus continued, smiling. "And," he said, poking the red-eyed rabbit's nose lightly, "I'll climb a hundred moving trees just to get you another nut."

Perhaps for the first time, the red-eyed rabbit smiled.

* * *

Raising rabbits secretly in his bedroom was not his ideal summer holiday plan.

But as it happened, he realised he liked it. He liked stealing vegetables from the garden and watching his mother get confused at invisible pests. He liked waking up in the middle of the night because a certain red-eyed rabbit saw a spider and began shrieking. He liked giving all of the rabbits names, christening the red-eyed one Ruby, because he was feeling very uncreative that night. He liked nuzzling up with all of them. He liked playing games with the rabbits, throwing sticks and watching them run at full speed and chase one another. He liked tickling them and making them giggle. Above all, he liked learning how to communicate with them.

It was weird. He remembered all the way back to when he understood Archie's every movements and gestures and what they meant, if he was hungry or if he was content. He remembered comprehending what Fawkes meant when he squawked, what he meant when he flapped his arms, and Lily looking sceptical when Remus said he understood Fawkes's expressions.

Even after he had left Hogwarts and mystical creatures, ordinary animals gave off moods that confused Remus. He remembered feeling an external angry atmosphere when he got too close to colonies of insects, like warding him off. He remembered singing along when the birds in the meadows chirped, and oddly enough singing words about it being cold this year, and worms and a lack of roosting places nowadays.

But the rabbits were the closest to him, the ones who actually talked to him. Remus liked trying to learn about his weird … _talent_.

Was it a magical thing? But then other people would have it. He had heard of Parseltongue, which was when people could speak to snakes, but he could speak to and understand a whole range of animal tongues.

"So is it me speaks rabbit talk or is it you who speaks English?" Remus wondered to Ruby, sitting down in front of the red-eyed rabbit.

The rabbit gave him a look that clearly meant, "How should I know?"

"I think it's me who speaks and understands rabbits," Remus reasoned, "because I can understand other animals too. It's kind of cool."

Ruby did not look like she cared. She attempted to break open another nut by thumping her foot against it, and Remus helped.

Ruby looked quite thankful and smiled at him, dashing off to play with her friends in the meadow. His parents were out, so the rabbits were allowed to run free without fear of Hope Lupin shrieking in fear for her pumpkins. Remus sighed happily, leaning against a tree trunk and letting the sunlight and the breeze wash over him.

This happened until the end of the holidays. He had maintained secrecy of the rabbits living in his house and the meadow around, with a few close calls, Hope once thinking that mice were in the house and going mad.

The rabbits all looked very dejected the day he was to go to Platform 9 ¾, to go back to Hogwarts. Remus liked to think that the rabbits cared about him and liked him enough now. Remus certainly felt that way about them.

"So, you have to be much more secret about stuff when I'm gone," Remus told the crowd of sad rabbits quickly, "but you can still take the vegies and fruit from the garden, and of course you can eat the grass in the meadow. Nuts are going to be harder to find now I'm gone but if it's safe I'm sure you can manage." The rabbits nodded. "Shelter can be in my room, if you like, or you can stay in the burrow we dug together. Water is easy to find, there's always that lake that's like, three minutes away.

"I hope you guys will still be here when I come back over the holidays," Remus said, smiling. "But if anything becomes dangerous, move away, okay? Find water and food and stuff. I love all of you a lot."

And then he began to pack his things for tomorrow. When he looked back, he saw Ruby's red eyes were teary.


	22. The Stowaway

I've learned that you don't need a lot in life. If it can't fit into a suitcase, you don't really need it.

\- Joyce DiDonato

* * *

" _Remus_! You'll be late," his mother Hope called from downstairs.

"Sorry, coming!" Remus shouted back. Currently, he was engulfed in around twenty-five kilograms of rabbits in his room, all of them snuggling up to him and chirping goodbyes. "Guys," he said, quieter this time. "I've got to go!"

He stood up, smiling and brushing off bits of fur stuck to him. He was a bit disappointed when he saw that Ruby, the first of his rabbit friends, wasn't there. Perhaps she was still sad from last night. But he still bid a last farewell to the rest of the rabbits and hurried downstairs where his mother and father were waiting.

"What took you so long?" his mother asked. "We better hurry, because I have a lot more gardening to do – I wonder what those _pests_ are that keep eating my vegetables?"

"Nothing much," Remus said, smiling because the answer to both her questions were the same.

* * *

During the car trip to Kings Cross Station, Remus slipped his hand into his suitcase, searching for something. His suitcase was really irritating to zip up and unzip, so he only opened it the tiniest bit to fit his hand through. For some reason, the interior felt a whole lot tighter and it was harder to find what he wanted – he barely packed anything! – but this probably was just Remus's imagination. He finally found what he was looking for by rummaging near the top of the suitcase: a letter.

It was from Sirius, who had sent it to him a week ago. After reading it a few times, Remus had kept it crumpled up in his drawer and by some strange stirring had stuffed it near the top of his junk inside the suitcase last night.

 _Dear Remus,_

 _Is_ that _how you start off a letter? Because last time I began it with "hey, my cool-as-heck walking dictionary" and you got annoyed at me and wrote a whole spiel about proper introductions and all. Also, you wrote a whole lot about grammar and spelling. So Remus-like._

 _Anyway, wishing you were here with James and me (but mainly me)! Of course your parents didn't let you come. And of course Peter tripped over a tile at Kings' Cross on the last day of term – how do you trip over a flat surface? – and got both him_ AND _Frank Longbottom into Mungo's – he'd just gotten out for like a week! Anyway, it's just James's family and I at the resort in America. There aren't any cute girls, and it's way too hot for my liking. Mum was really against me going but Dad said I did pretty well in school last year so I was allowed to "fraternise with the enemy" and "learn their secrets." My family's weird._

 _It'd be a ton more fun if you were here. But I'm going to see you in a week anyway!_

There was a very sloppy drawing of a smiley face. Remus rolled his eyes.

 _From your favourite person ever,_

 _Sirius_

 _(P.S. I'm_ still _sick from last term. Ugh. I don't even know what sickness it is. But Mrs Potter is making me drink a whole lot of her herbal tea so hopefully that'll help.)_

Remus smiled. Sirius was so silly. But Remus was so excited to see him, and James, and Peter this year. And that got him thinking about Lily, another one of his friends. His hands tingled with energy, his knees vibrating with enthusiasm.

This excitement, this thrill – this was the opposite of how he felt last year. Last year he was shy and dreading coming to Hogwarts. Last year he was friendless and unhappy and his stomach sank at the thought of human interaction, of having to hide his secret. But now he had learned and trusted others, and had gained friends. One year could do a lot to you.

Thinking about his friends made him wonder; where was Archie now? How was he faring? Was he all right? Was he eating? How was ex-Professor Enid Tacey? Tacey, the dark creature catcher who was so skilled and seasoned in the art of taking care of and taming dark creatures – was she able to care of Archie, who was massive and almost destroyed half of Hogwarts castle once?

Remus felt like he was soup and someone was stirring it madly. So many emotions and feelings swirled inside of his stomach.

The car abruptly stopped and Remus almost vomited out those emotions in his stomach.

"Sorry!" his dad Lyall said. "But we're here."

King's Cross was full of people, as usual, running around the station. Still clutching the letter from Sirius, because he had no time to stuff it back into his suitcase, Remus marvelled at the sight around him. The Muggles all around walked absent-mindedly, somehow averting their view from the wizards all around them running straight at the wall between Platforms 9 and 10. A book had told him once that, because of the lack of exposure to magic that Muggles have had for centuries, they have learned to ignore small bits of magic and jump onto scientific explanations instead.

He and his family collided into the magical barrier that lead into Platform 9¾. It was just as crowded as last year, and it took time to squeeze past new, excited students chatting loudly and tearful parents bidding farewell to their children. Cages with owls, cats and toads croaking, cawing and screeching added to the uproar.

Remus waved to his parents, trying to shout over the loud noise. "Bye Mum, bye Dad – I love you – yes, I'll write – bye!"

He heaved his suitcase up into the Hogwarts Express, scarlet red and glittering in the morning light. It took way too much effort to carry it. There were only books and clothes inside. Nothing much else. Frowning, Remus looked down at the suitcase. It even looked bigger too…

But he had no time to inspect, as the train started puffing smoke and began to move. Remus waved goodbye even more vigorously at his parents and then went inside the train's compartments. He hauled the suitcase along and walked for a few minutes, looking for his friends.

"Remus!"

He had barely enough time to turn around before Sirius Black engulfed him, wrapping his arms around Remus and making him drop the suitcase (Again, it might've been imagination, but Remus could've sworn the suitcase yelped in pain.)

"Hi! We were looking for you," Sirius said, grinning and jumping up and down.

For a moment, Remus stared at Sirius. His hair had gotten longer and shaggier, but he still managed to look cool in it. He was dressed in school uniform already, but his tie was loose and his shirt was untucked. Typical Sirius. He looked different though – more tanned from the holiday in America with James's family. _Taller_ , annoyingly enough. And a little happier.

"Whoa, calm down," Remus laughed, breathless from Sirius's hug attack. Behind Sirius was James and Peter, and the four boys took turns hugging and greeting each other. Before long, they were talking and laughing so loudly that someone peeked out from a compartment and told them to shut up.

Giggling, the four of them bounced away to the compartment that James said they had already claimed. Sirius offered to help Remus carry his suitcase. ("It's so heavy," Sirius commented. Remus nodded in agreement. "I know right?")

Midway, Sirius sneezed.

"Mrs Potter's medicinal tea didn't work?" Remus asked.

Sirius sniffled. "Nah. It's been like this all summer."

They finally reached the compartment and they fell down and sunk into their seats. They were alone in the compartment other than a fly zooming around (gross.) Remus sat back, smiling. James Potter had gotten new glasses and, like Sirius, still had the same messy hair as last year. Unlike Sirius's perfect tan, James had obviously fared less well in America. His face and arms were slightly red from a sunburn and pale skin around his eyes where he might have worn sunglasses in the sun. James was taller too, but Remus was proud to say that he still surpassed James in the height department.

Peter was the only one who looked largely unchanged. His leg obviously had healed from his accident the last time everybody was at King's Cross, as he did not have a cast. Peter did not seem to have grown any taller, and still retained mousy brown hair and a kind, small face.

Remus looked at all three of them. Sirius was sticking a Bertie Bott's All-Flavour Bean up his nose and James and Peter were cracking up. Remus rolled his eyes, but he knew by looking at them that this is what friends looked like. Laughter. Smiling.

"Remus, you're zoning out again," Sirius commented. Remus snapped out of his thoughts and looked at Sirius, whose nose was now Bean-free. "Are you okay?"

"Uh–"

"Oh, hey, what's that?" James asked, pointing at the crumpled up paper in Remus's hand. It was Sirius's letter.

For some reason, Remus felt embarrassed. Was it socially acceptable to reread friends' letters and keep it obsessively in one's hand for an hour? Wouldn't it be weird? Would they judge him? Already scrambling for his suitcase and violently attacking the zip (it was really annoying to open), he said, "Oh, it's nothing–"

As Remus unzipped the unnaturally big, unreasonably heavy suitcase, it suddenly became apparent as to why the suitcase was so weird today. From the depths of clothes and books leapt a pure white bunny with blood red eyes, wiping away dust with her paw. She panted as she breathed in real air for the first time in hours.

" _Ruby_?" Remus uttered, shocked.

"Is that a rabbit?" Peter asked.

Ruby yawned and in that strange way, she spoke. "I'm hungry."

Remus looked at her wildly. "You wouldn't be hungry if you'd stayed home! Why are you here?"

Ruby cowered at his angry tone, curling up into a ball, her ears drooping even lower. "I wanted to stay with you."

Remus sighed exasperatedly. " _Ruby_. It's – you're not meant to be here. I'm pretty sure Hogwarts students can only bring owls, cats and toads to school."

"Remus. You're talking to a rabbit," Sirius said, looking at him strangely. Remus looked up and his other friends were doing the same.

Remus realised something. Nobody else knew he could talk to animals. And nobody in this compartment knew he was a werewolf, so he couldn't share his suspicions about why he was able to talk to animals.

"Yeah, it's just like how people speak to their dogs in English, you know?" Remus said, thinking quickly. "Guys, meet my pet rabbit Ruby."

Ruby bristled at the word "pet" but Remus shot her a look.

"She's so cute," Peter said, smiling and approaching Ruby and stroking her fur.

"But how'd she get here?" asked James quizzically. "Did she sneak in your suitcase?"

Remus sighed. "I guess. I don't know what to do with her though. I can't just _keep_ her at school, but I can't send her back in a package either."

"Why not?" James said. "To keeping her, I mean. None of us would tell on you. Plus it'd be fun to keep a pet at school."

Remus, who had experience with trying to balance schoolwork and taking care of an animal last year, was less than inclined to this decision. However, he reasoned, Archie had been an ill, injured dragon, and Ruby was just a little rabbit.

He sighed again. It was a thing he liked doing nowadays. "Fine, but–"

The compartment door began to slide open and by instinct he scooped up Ruby in his hands and dropped her into his suitcase. He zipped the suitcase up and shoved it aside. As soon as he did, the door opened fully and there was Lily Evans, as radiant as ever.

She was mostly the same, red-haired, freckled, skinny and short. She looked suspiciously at the suitcase lying on the floor, but then smiled up at Remus. "Hi, Remus. How was your holiday?"

"The rest of us are here too," James said dryly.

Lily's expression darkened as she took in James. "But unlike Remus, I don't care about you."

"Hi, Lily. My holiday was fine," Remus said before they started fighting even before term had begun. "What about yours?"

Sirius sneezed loudly into a tissue and looked up sheepishly. "Sorry."

"Bless you," Lily said immediately, but the look on her face wasn't concern – it was intrigue. "Interesting…"

"What's interesting?" Remus asked.

Lily stood up straighter like she always did when explaining something important. " _Well_ , Severus seems to be ill as well. He's been sneezing quite a lot as well, ever since last term."

"What a shame," James said, yawning.

She shot James a glare. Then her gaze switched to Sirius. "Are your symptoms the same as his? Have you been coughing, itchy and not been able to sleep sometimes?"

Sirius looked at her warily. "Those are, like, the symptoms for everything."

"But it seems weird, doesn't it?" Lily asked.

Sirius ran out of tissues and began using his arm. Lily looked at him in disgust. He frowned. "No. Not really."

"Whatever," Lily said and stepped out of the compartment, beginning to close it. "Well, nice talking to you, Remus! Let's talk more later."

Before leaving, Lily noticed the fly buzzing around in the compartment and she swatted it away. "Ew. I hate bugs." And then she left.

Sirius and James began complaining about Lily and Remus sighed and laughed, sinking back into his seat. The train would be arriving at Hogwarts soon. He should change out of his casual, baggy clothes into his school uniform.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" Remus said, and dragged out the suitcase from where he had kicked it. He unzipped it and a disgruntled Ruby lay there, not looking too happy at being inside the suitcase again.

But before Remus could say anything to her, Ruby took in a breath and sneezed.


End file.
